March 28, 2009
GEORGETOWN, Md. – The Notre Dame softball team ran its win streak to five consecutive games with a 6-4 BIG EAST Conference win over Georgetown at Guy Mason Field on Saturday afternoon. Game two of the doubleheader was halted due to travel constraints and may be resumed at a later date this season. Because of the suspended game, statistics will not be made official until completion. Notre Dame led, 8-1, as Georgetown had one out in the home half of the fifth inning. The opener was pushed back one hour due to rain in the Georgetown area.
The Irish (15-11 overall, 2-1 BIG EAST) held on to a 6-0 lead until the Hoyas (5-21, 0-7) scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Notre Dame has now won seven of its last eight contests.
The tone was set by the Irish sluggers early as Beth Northway shot an opening-inning bomb through the steady Potomac mist.
Brittney Bargar (10-6) walked the first Georgetown batter of the game and another in the second before giving up her first hit to Kelsie Hanson to start the third. A fielder’s choice put two Hoyas on base and a double-steal put the pair in scoring position with one out. Bargar took care of business by sitting down Samantha Peters and Cara Savarese to end the frame.
Dani Miller doubled in the fourth but was left on base, though Notre Dame made the best of its base runners in the fifth. Kristina Wright wore a pitch to crack open the frame and a gem of a bunt by Alexa Maldonado died in front of the Georgetown catcher for a base hit. Northway was walked to load the bases and Heather Johnson smacked a two-out single to center that crossed a pair of runners. Christine Lux cleared the bases with a three-run shot to right, giving Notre Dame a 6-0 advantage.
Brianna Jorgensborg added a two-baser in the sixth. The Irish defense did their job in the bottom portion of the sixth to leave two Hoyas in scoring position before Wright jumped out of her stance to field a dribbler down the third base line to gun Jillian Webb at first to close the stanza. Bargar gave up her second hit of the game in the inning.
With two outs Kristi Preuss drove in Kelsie Hanson on an RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh. Peters tacked on a triple to score two more Hoyas and the home team came within two runs (6-4) on a Savarese single through the left side that scored Peters. Savarese led Georgetown with two hits.
Bargar gave up five hits and four earned runs with eight strikeouts and fives walks. The loss went to Jennifer Connell (4-9) who tossed 7.0 innings and gave up six earned runs on eight Irish hits.
After catching their flight to Tampa with moments to spare – but arriving without a substantial portion of their luggage – the Irish take on USF for a Sunday doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. (ET).
–ND–