Feb. 25, 2001
The 14th-ranked University of Notre Dame softball team lost its first game of the season at the Morning News Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., Sunday afternoon 2-0 to Arkansas (8-6). The Irish are now 8-1 and finish with a 3-1 record in the tournament.
Lady Razorback pitchers Rachel Talley and Heather Schlichtman combined to scatter five Irish hits in the game. Talley pitched 4 1/3 innings before an Andrea Loman liner up the middle ricocheted off her hand to force her out of the game. Schlichtman pitched the rest of the game to earn her sixth victory of the season.
Arkansas scored its runs in the bottom of the sixth inning after a lead-off single by Danica Howlett. Lauren Hendrix followed with a questionable double down the left field line that just skirted around third base and was called fair. Lady Razorback Jennifer Bottoms followed with a single, moving Hendrix to third. A throwing error by Irish catcher Jarrah Myers allowed Hendrix to score and give her team a two-run lead.
Schlichtman worked a perfect 1-2-3 seventh inning to preserve the victory for her team.
Notre Dame’s loss overshadowed a gutsy performance by first-year pitcher Kristen Schmidt. The Irish freshman scattered nine hits in the game while working her way out of numerous jams, giving up just one earned run and striking out five. She suffered her first loss of the season.
Jenny Kriech led Notre Dame with two hits, raising her season average to .452.