April 11, 2017
by Tony Jones
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Following her first career collegiate no-hitter that clinched a weekend series win over North Carolina, University of Notre Dame junior Katie Beriont was recognized on Tuesday as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Softball Pitcher of the Week. The weekly conference honor was the first for Beriont in her Notre Dame tenure, and the first league citation earned by an Irish player in 2017.
Beriont’s effort against the ACC’s second-ranked offense was the 36th solo no-hitter (43rd overall no-hitter) in Irish program history, and was the first seven-inning no-hitter for Notre Dame since the 2012 season. A third-inning walk issued to North Carolina represented the only batter to officially reach safely against Beriont, who forced nine flyouts, 10 groundouts, and logged two strikeouts on only 79 pitches.
North Carolina entered the weekend series with Notre Dame averaging more than eight hits and five and a half runs per game. With the exception of a fielding error in the sixth inning, Beriont retired 14 of the last 15 hitters she faced in the victory that cemented the series for the Irish.
Beriont became the fourth Notre Dame pitcher to throw an overall no-hitter since 2014, with the previous three occurrences ending in only five innings (Allie Rhodes against Morehead State in 2014; Laura Winter at Virginia in 2014; Rachel Nasland at #9 Florida State in 2015). The other three pitchers are also past ACC Pitcher of the Week recipients.
In her last seven overall appearances (four starts) in the circle, Beriont is 4-0 with a .206 batting average against. The Colts Neck, New Jersey, native has led a consistent Notre Dame pitching attack at Melissa Cook Stadium thus far in 2017, notching a 3-0 record, 1.53 ERA and .191 average against in 18.1 innings at home this season.
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2017 Notre Dame Softball Weekly Honorees
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Pitcher of the Week
Katie Beriont — April 11
–ND–
Tony Jones, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2012 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame softball and men’s soccer programs. A native of Jamestown, New York, Jones is a 2011 graduate of St. Bonaventure University, and prior to arriving at Notre Dame held positions at the University of Louisiana Monroe and with the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills.