Feb. 24, 2001
The 14th-ranked University of Notre Dame softball team won its eighth game of the season 8-0 over Maine in the Morning News Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., late Saturday night. The Irish improve to 3-0 in the tournament after posting a 4-3 victory over host Arkansas earlier on Saturday and a 4-1 win over Texas Tech on Friday.
Seven Irish hitters posted hits in the contest, led by junior Jenny Kriech’s (Indianapolis, Ind.) three-for-three performance. She kick-started an Irish two-out rally in the bottom of the third with a single. Kas Hoag (Wallingford, Conn.) followed with a walk and Melanie Alkire (Union City, Calif.) singled to load the bases for Jarrah Myers (Carbondale, Kan.). Myers smacked a two-RBI single to give her team a 2-0 lead heading into the fourth inning.
Maine could not muster any offense against Notre Dame’s starting pitcher Kristin Schmidt (Houston, Texas). The Irish freshman struck out 11 batters in just five innings of work and lowered her season ERA to 1.40. She has made three starts this season and posted a 3-0 record with three complete games.
Hoag put the Irish on the board in the bottom of the fourth, smacking a two-RBI single up the middle to score Alexis Madrid (Temecula, Calif.) and Danny Klayman (San Diego, Calif.). Madrid had reached on an error that would have been the final out of the inning.
With one out in the fifth inning, Lizzy Lemire (Irvine, Calif.) posted an infield hit, followed by a Klayman single and an Andria Bledsoe (Higley, Ariz.) RBI double. Nicole deFau (Southington, Conn.) then drew a walk to load the bases for Kriech.
Needing at least a triple to end the game early due the eight-run mercy rule, Kriech delivered exactly what the Irish needed. She scorched a ball past the centerfielder for a three-run triple and collected her seventh, eighth and ninth RBI of the season.
Notre Dame will face Arkansas at 11 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25, to wrap-up its schedule for the 2001 Morning News Invitational.
GAME NOTES:
Notre Dame extends its best-ever opening season record to 8-0 … Jarrah Myers had two hits and two RBI in the game … Schmidt gave up just three hits, while her counterpart Candace Jaeggee surrendered 11 hits and six earned runs … due to a long rain delay to start the day, the game would end around 11:30 p.m. local time and 12:30 a.m. in Notre Dame, Ind.