May 29, 2001
After completing its most successful season ever, the University of Notre Dame softball team had a school-record four players earn All-America honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, announced at the annual banquet in Oklahoma City, Okla., last week.
Kristin Schmidt (Houston, Texas) became the first Notre Dame freshman to earn All-America honors, as she received the nod for a second team selection. Juniors Jenny Kriech (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Jarrah Myers (Carbondale, Kan.), along with senior Jen Sharron (Agoura Hills, Calif.) were named to the third team.
The Irish completed the 2001 season 54-7 with undefeated home (18-0) and away (19-0) records (all of Notre Dame’s losses came at neutral site venues). The team set season marks for runs scored (308), doubles (98), triples (27), total bases (748), team ERA (0.89), complete games pitched (48) shutouts (30) and strikeouts (477) in 2001. The Irish also won their fifth-consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title, climbed as high as eighth in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and earned Notre Dame’s first #1 seed in the NCAA Championship.
Schmidt’s second-team selection caps off one of the top rookie campaigns in Notre Dame softball history. She finished 27-3 with a 0.55 ERA (a mark ranked second in Irish history) with 22 complete games, 13 shutouts and 247 strikeouts. Able to toss a variety of dominating pitches, Schmidt went through the entire BIG EAST regular season schedule (10 starts) without surrendering a single run en route to winning the league’s rookie of the year award. She also was ranked as high as second in the country in ERA during the season.
Schmidt tossed eight one-hitters this season, including five over the course of nine starts and finished off the regular season by posting seven consecutive shutouts. Her most notable pitching performance of the year might have been at the Kia Klassic (March 17), where she held #10 Arizona State to two hits over the course of nine innings in her team’s 5-1 victory. She also threw her first career no-hitter against Toledo (April 25), striking out a career-best 15, including the last nine batters of the game.
Kriech earns her first All-America award after a spectacular season at the top of Notre Dame’s lineup. The junior leadoff hitter spent 20 games this season with an average above the .400 mark (finishing the season at .369) while pounding out a school-record 10 triples. Kriech also had 50 runs scored, 72 hits and 19 stolen bases this season (all marks that rank in the top five of Notre Dame’s single season lists) and she did not commit an error in 46 chances in rightfield.
Among Kriech’s most notable performances in 2001, the junior drove in the winning run in Notre Dame’s upset of #4 Washington (Feb. 17) with a single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh and posted a walk-off triple to put the finishing touches on a three-for-three night against Maine (Feb. 24) in Notre Dame’s 8-0 victory.
Myers also earns All-America honors for the first time in her career after leading the Irish in most offensive categories this season. She finished with a .380 batting average, 65 hits, 41 RBI, 43 runs scored, seven home runs (fourth on the Irish single season list), a .620 slugging percentage and drew an Irish single season record 27 walks. She also was a Verizon Academic All-District Selection and will be representing her team at the U.S. National Team tryouts in Southern California next week.
Myers most memorable single game performance came at Cal State Northridge on March 11. She posted six RBI and hit two home runs against the Matadors that day (a 7-3 Irish victory), tying the school records for RBI and home runs in a game. One of Notre Dame’s best all-around players, the junior also had 12 stolen bases this season and her .992 fielding percentage behind the plate ranks second on Notre Dame’s single season lists.
Sharron put the finishing touches on one of the best pitching careers at Notre Dame this season to earn her place on the All-America list. She becomes just the third Irish player to repeat All-America honors (Terri Kobata, ’94-’95 and Katie Marten, ’95-’96) after earning second team honors last season. She finished with a 1.13 ERA in 2001, striking out 224 with 14 shutouts and 26 complete games.
Sharron became the first pitcher to win the BIG EAST’s Pitcher of the Year award four consecutive seasons this year and the senior also earned Verizon Academic All-District honors. The lefthander produced a number of notable performances in the circle in 2001, including her first career no-hitter against conference rival St. John’s (March 31) while also posting a career-best 14 strikeouts against Valparaiso and Boston College.
Her season highlights were not limited to her work in the pitching circle. She blasted a game-winning three-run home run against Arkansas (Feb. 24) and went three-for-four in her final game with the Irish against Iowa in the NCAA Regional, including a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh. Sharron finished the season with a .318 batting average, seven doubles and 13 RBI. Sharron will join Myers in the U.S. National Team tryout camp next week.