Feb. 13, 2007
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2007 Season begins in Alabama:
The 2007 Notre Dame softball season begins this week when the Irish take the field for the Tiger Invitational. The tournament will be played primarily at the Jane B. Moore Field on the Auburn campus. Each of the five teams in the tournament will also play a single game at the Auburn City Softball Complex, an off-campus field. This will be the first time the Irish will begin their season in Alabama or have taken on a school from the Southeastern Conference to start the year.
Keeping up with the Irish:
Notre Dame’s softball family and friend can keep up with the Irish one of six ways this season. First, the Notre Dame hotline (1-574-631-3000) will be updated as soon as possible following each game. Two, a game recap will be posted on Notre Dame website (www.und.com) following each contest. Three, a text alert will be send out to those fans that wish to sign-up for the Irish text alerts on the Notre Dame website. Four, live audio broadcasts will be available for Irish home games. Fifth, Notre Dame will run GameTracker for selected road games (depending on the host institution) and all homes games at Ivy Field through its athletic website. And sixth, Notre Dame softball will have a weekly notes package that will be put out by Wednesday’s of most weeks.
Overview of the Irish:
The Irish returns six position starters, three pitchers and 13 monogram winners from a season ago. Notre Dame has also added three newcomers to the mix in a quest for their ninth consecutive NCAA bid.
Sophomore Brittney Bargar, after a solid freshman season, will be counted upon heavily this season to lead the pitchers. Bargar won 15 games as a freshman, while averaging better than seven strikeouts per game. Also in the rotation this season is senior Kenya Fuemmeler (1-0, 1.64 ERA), who making the transition from the bullpen. Sophomore Christine Farrell, after missing all of last season with injuries, is making her debut in the circle for the Irish this season. Farrell will take on the role of a later inning specialist.
The infield will be have senior Carissa Jaquish (.219, 61 H, 30 RBI) and freshman Christine Lux vying for playing time at first base. Linda Kohan (.275, 49 H, 29 RBI) will move over to second base after spending time at third and first as a freshman. All-BIG EAST second team selection Katie Laing (.294, 110 H, 57 RBI) moves from second to her natural position of shortstop. Newcomer Heather Johnson will be the opening day third baseman.
The primary returning starter in the outfield is centerfielder Stephanie Brown (.343, 210 H, 42 SB). Brown was a unanimous all-BIG EAST first team selection and a second team NFCA All-American selection as a junior. Five other players will be in consideration for playing time to each side of Brown. Juniors Brittany Glynn (.200, 14 R) and Sarah Smith (.250, 32 R, 6 SB), sophomores Stephanie Mola (15 H, 3 RBI) and Beth Northway (.667, 4 SB) are joined by freshman Ashley Ellis and will all be pushing each other this year.
Senior Gessica Hufnagle (31 R, 40 H, 30 RBI) and sophomore Erin Glasco (30 H, 6 2B, 14 RBI) will split time at both catcher and as the designated player.
Last to play:
Notre Dame will take the field for the first time this season on Friday, Feb. 16, while all five of its scheduled opponents have already started their seasons the weekend before, Feb. 9-11.
Notre Dame in early season tournaments:
Notre Dame began what is now the collegiate softball tradition of early-season tournament action in 1990 when it took part in a Chicago, Ill., tournament. Since that trip, Notre Dame has visited 32 different areas of the country and participated in several elite tournaments. Notre Dame’s all-time record in early-season tournament action is 181-129 (.584) and its most frequent sites visited have been South Florida (seven times), Columbus, Ga. (six times), Cal State Fullerton (five times). This season, Notre Dame will visit Auburn, Ala. (first time), Palm Springs, Calif. (third time), Jacksonville, Fla. (first time), Long Beach, Calif. (first time) and Cal State Fullerton once again.
Scouting Auburn:
The Tigers (1-5) started the season dropping four one-run games at the Hawai’i Paradise Classic. Two of the Auburn losses have come at the hands of DePaul; a team Notre Dame will play April 5 in BIG EAST action. On Feb. 11, Auburn and the #20 Nebraska hooked up in a classic eight-inning match up. The Tigers staff ace Holly Currie took the tough 1-0 loss despite striking out nine Huskers in 5 1/3 innings. Auburn will have a midweek game against Georgia State before hosting the Tiger Invitational over the weekend.
Series vs. Auburn:
This is the fifth time these two teams will meet, but the first time that Notre Dame will play the Tigers in Alabama. Notre Dame holds an overall 3-1 series lead. The Irish won the last meeting between these two teams in 2002 by the score of 3-2 in ten innings in the Arizona Pepsi Classic (Tucson, Ariz.).
Scouting UAB:
The Blazers (2-2) started the year by finishing third at the Georgia State First Pitch Classic. Catcher Andrea Rogers had a terrific final day of the tournament for UAB, as she went 6-for-8 with seven RBI on the day.
Series vs. UAB:
This will be the second time, Notre Dame and the Blazers have locked up. The previous meeting was a 9-1 Irish victory in the Frost Tournament (Chattanooga, Tenn.) in 2001.
Scouting Tennessee Tech:
The Golden Eagles (2-2) finished as the runner-up at the Georgia State First Pitch Classic. Both of Tennessee Tech’s losses this season have come at the hands of Virginia Tech. Junior Krystina Dobbs leads the offensive attack with a .429 batting average with six hits, two doubles and a triple. Senior staff ace Bonnie Bynum is 1-1 with 21 strikeouts in 12 innings on the year.
Series vs. Tennessee Tech:
This is the first ever meeting between the Irish and the Golden Eagles.
Scouting Tulsa:
The Golden Hurricanes (1-4) opened the season at the Kickoff Classic hosted by UNLV. Tulsa took a pair of painful losses at the hands of UIC and UNLV on Feb. 10. In both games Tulsa took the early lead, only to see the competition catch up in the later innings. Freshman Ashlee Lubiewski has made an immediate impact, as she is 6-for-12 with a home run and four RBI in the first five games.
Series vs. Tulsa:
The Irish hold a slight 3-2 edge on the Golden Hurricanes in the all-time series. The last time the teams met Tulsa won 2-1 at the Tulsa Invitational (Tulsa, Okla.), last season.
Scouting Virginia Tech:
The Hokies (3-1) also had a strong start at the Georgia State First Pitch Classic, defeating Tennessee Tech twice and Georgia State once to take home the tournament title. Junior pitcher Angela Tincher had an impressive weekend with her 2-0 record and a stunning 35 strikeouts in 14 innings from the circle. Caroline Stolle has been the early hitting star for Virginia Tech with three home runs and seven RBI.
Series vs. Virginia Tech:
The Irish will face off with one of their former BIG EAST rivals for the 12th time. Notre Dame holds a 10-1 advantage and has won four straight over the Hokies. This will be only the third time these two schools have met when conference implications were not involved.
Preseason Choice for Third in the BIG EAST:
The Irish were selected to finish third in the BIG EAST Conference for the 2007 season, in a vote by the leagues coaches, The Irish received a first-place vote and totaled 104 points to finish behind front-runner Louisville and South Florida. Notre Dame along with Louisville and USF were all selected for the 2006 NCAA Softball Championships.
Irish Captains:
Notre Dame will feature three captains this season for only the third time. The Irish captains will be seniors Stephanie Brown and Kenya Fuemmeler and junior Katie Laing. The only other Notre Dame teams to have a trio of captains are the 2003 squad (Alexis Madrid, Andria Bledsoe and Andrea Loman) and the 2002 team (Kas Hoag, Jenny Kriech and Jarrah Myers).
Season Schedule will be a Challenge:
The 2007 season will prove to be a challenge for the Irish, as the team will face several teams ranked in the top 25, or just out of the national rankings.
According to the preseason rankings, the Irish will face (NFCA rankings first, followed by USA Softball) No. 3/3 UCLA, No. 4/4 Northwestern, No.5/5 Northwestern, No. 10/10 California, No. 11/13 Michigan, No. 16/16 Oklahoma, N. 19/17 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 20/21 Louisville, No. 21/20 Fresno State, No. 22/23 South Florida, No. 24/RV Auburn, In addition, Notre Dame will face Call State Fullerton, DePaul and Virginia Tech- all teams who received at least one vote in the preseason national rankings.
The Irish defeated two ranked teams during the 2006 season (No. 10 Arizona State and No. 18 Louisville) and have totaled 15 ranked team victories during Gumpf’s tenure.
Coaches Return:
Notre Dame will bring back its entire coaching staff from the 2006 season in head coach Deanna Gumpf, assistant coaches Kris Ganeff and Lizzy Lemire and volunteer assistant coach Dawn Austin.
Gumpf Entering Her Sixth Season:
Notre Dame head coach Deanna Gumpf is entering her sixth season at the helm of the Notre Dame softball program. The Irish coach is 219-90 in her first five seasons and has taken the Irish to five consecutive NCAA postseason berths.
Gumpf won her 200th career game in Notre Dame’s 14-4 victory over Pittsburgh on April 9 of the 2006 season.
At the start of the season, Gumpf career’s record of 219-90 (.708) is a single percentage better than that of former Irish head coach Liz Miller 377-156 (.707). She is also ahead of the first ever softball coach at Notre Dame, Brian Boulac 135-90-2 (.597).
A Generous Donation:
Notre Dame softball’s bid for a new facility took a huge step forward this off-season thanks to the generous donation by Linda and Paul Demo. The Demo’s pledged three million dollars for the building of the Melissa Cook Stadium. Cook, a former Irish softball player, was one of four people that were killed in March 2002 when a massive section of scaffolding fell from the John Hancock Center onto her car in downtown Chicago. The families of those who died and were injured reached a settlement in early 2006 with the skyscrapers owners and other companies named in the lawsuit. The Demo’s, the mother and stepfather of Melissa Cook, devoted much of their portion of the settlement to Notre Dame for the upcoming $4.8 million facility. The stadium will be built on the southeast corner of the Notre Dame campus near Eck Baseball Stadium and will hold 1,500 Irish softball fans.
Milestones on the Horizon:
• Senior Stephanie Brown enters the 2007 season owning the eighth highest (126) number of runs scored at Notre Dame, only three behind Melanie Alkire for seventh. Brown is also 10th on the all-time hits list with 210, only eight behind Jenn Giampaolo for ninth. Further, Brown is eighth on the all-time home runs list (18) only three behind Mallorie Lenn for seventh. Brown is also among the all-time leaders in walks (57-seventh) and stolen bases (42-seventh)
• Junior Katie Laing is just behind the top-10 with her 33 career doubles.
Up Next-California Here We Come:
The Irish continue their avoidance of the harsh Midwest winter and make the first of their two trips to California to play in the Palm Springs Tournament from Feb. 23-25. Notre Dame will play against Oklahoma (Feb. 23), California (Feb. 23), UNLV (Feb. 24), Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 24), and Ole Miss (Feb. 25).