March 25, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The 22nd-ranked Notre Dame softball team gave up four runs in the top of the third inning, but came back with five runs in the third, four in the fourth and three in the sixth to defeat Kent State, 12-4, Saturday in six innings at Purdue’s Boilermaker Invitational. The Irish improved to 20-7 on the season, while the Golden Flashes fell to 5-11.
In the top of the third, Kent State scored four runs on just two hits as the Irish committed three errors to fall behind early. Notre Dame, however, answered in the bottom of the frame, scoring five runs, highlighted by junior Melanie Alkire’s (Union City, Calif.) two-run home run to left field, her team-leading fifth of the season.
Alkire struck again in the next inning, hitting one of her two doubles of the game off the fence in center field to score Jennifer Kriech (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Rebecca Eimen (Mannford, Okla.). Sophomore Angie Grimmer (Crown Point, Ind.), who pinch ran for Alkire, and sophomore Jarrah Myers (Carbondale, Kan.), who got on with a single up the middle, also scored in the inning for the Irish to move the lead to 9-4.
Notre Dame then scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth, including two on a home run by junior Jennifer Sharron (Agoura Hills, Calif.), to finish the game early at 12-4 due to the eight-run rule.
Alkire got the win on the mound to move to a perfect 5-0, while Michelle Moschel (Naples, Fla.), who pitched 2.2 innings, did not allow a hit and struck out six, earned her third save of the season. Kent State pitcher Tayor Fleming took the loss for the Golden Flashes.
Notre Dame plays 13th-ranked Michigan at 3 p.m. in its second game of the day at the Boilermaker Invitational.