Feb. 19, 2000
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Notre Dame softball team softball team split its two games in day two action Saturday at the UNLV Softball Classic. The Irish (3-1) fell to a powerful Oregon team 11-3 but then blanked UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), 3-0.
Against UCSB, the Irish tallied 14 hits off Gaucho pitcher Abby Murphy. Irish freshman Andrea Loman (Riverside, Calif.) recorded the game-winner with two outs in the fifth, belting her first career home run over the center field fence with two runners on base. Senior pitcher Jennifer Sharron (Agoura Hills, Calif.) picked up her second straight win of the season, allowing just three hits and striking out eight.
In the first game of the day versus Oregon, the Ducks, already ahead 3-1, broke open the game with six runs in the fifth inning off Irish relief pitcher Melanie Alkire (Union City, Calif.). Notre Dame closed to within six at 9-3 with two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Ducks tallied two more in the top half of the seventh to win, 11-3, in a game which last more than two and a half hours.
The Irish wrap up competition at the UNLV Softball Classic, Sunday, Feb. 20, with a 10 a.m. game versus Utah.