April 21, 2001
The University of Notre Dame softball team won its 11th and 12th BIG EAST Conference games of the season with two victories, 5-0 and 4-0, at Virginia Tech (30-19, 6-6) on Saturday.
The 11th-ranked Irish are now 40-3 on the season, 12-0 in the BIG EAST and own the nation’s top winning streak with a school-record 22 straight wins.
Notre Dame pounded out 13 hits in the first game, but were only able to score five runs after stranding 10 base runners. Melanie Alkire led the hit parade for the Irish, going three-for-four with two singles and her third home run of the season. Danielle Klayman followed up her four-for-eight performance against #10 DePaul on Thursday with a two-for-four output in the first game. Notre Dame’s lead off hitter, Jenny Kriech, also went two-for-four in the first game.
Lisa Mattison continued to hit the ball well, drilling an RBI double to score Notre Dame’s third run of the game. First base Andrea Loman accounted for the fourth and fifth runs of the game with her fourth home run of the season in the top of the seventh.
Irish starter Jen Sharron pitched a brilliant game, surrendering just two hits and striking out 10 for her 10th shutout of the season. Sharron was particularly effective in the last five innings, striking out eight of the last 13 batters she faced.
Notre Dame continued to chalk up the hits in the second game, but also followed through on the game-one theme by leaving seven runners on base. Kriech led off the game with a single, moved to second on a Klayman ground out and scored on an Alkire single to put the Irish up 1-0.
The Irish added three runs in the fourth inning after Lemire doubled and came home on a Loman single. Andria Bledsoe then reached on an error and Mattison drew a walk to load the bases for Alexis Madrid. Madrid came through with a bouncer up the middle, one of her three hits in the game, providing her team the winning margin.
Game-two starter Kristin Schmidt improved to 19-1 on the season with her ninth shutout of the season, striking out eight (including striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh) and giving up just three hits.
Notre Dame returns to action Tuesday, April 24, with just one game at Illinois-Chicago.