Senior pitcher Laura Winter

Winter Named ACC Pitcher Of The Week

March 10, 2014

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A sterling weekend performance during the program’s first Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) series earned University of Notre Dame softball senior Laura Winter ACC Pitcher of the Week honors, the conference office announced on Monday. Winter became the second Notre Dame player this season to be recognized with a weekly award from the league, after freshman Karley Wester was tabbed as the ACC Player of the Week on Feb. 17.

Winter enjoyed a standout opening weekend for Notre Dame during her first career ACC starts, going a 2-0 after tossing a pair of shutouts at Georgia Tech. She scattered five hits over 12 innings, walked one and struck out 19 Yellow Jacket batters.

Winter earned the Irish’s first win, complete game and shutout in the ACC with a dominant performance in game one on Saturday, allowing two hits and striking out 12 on only 89 pitches. She also became the second pitcher in Notre Dame history to surpass the 900 career strikeout plateau with her 10th strikeout of the ballgame, and at one time, retired 12 straight batters between the second and fifth innings.

It was more of the same on Sunday, as Winter spun a three-hit gem during Notre Dame’s 12-0 run-rule victory. Her sixth strikeout of the day set another piece of Notre Dame history, as Winter surpassed two-time All-American Terri Kobata (’96) as the all-time Irish strikeout leader with the 908th punch-out of her career. She would add one final strikeout to that total to finish the series with 909 career strikeouts.

Through 13 appearances (11 starts) in 2014, Winter is tied with Florida State ace Lacey Waldrop for the ACC lead in wins with 11, and is the Notre Dame team leader with a 1.78 ERA, 10 complete games, four shutouts and 99 strikeouts in only 82.2 innings pitched.

For the latest news and updates on all things Notre Dame softball, follow the Irish @NDsoftball and @NDcoachGumpf on Twitter, and Like the team at Facebook.com/NDSoftball.

2014 Notre Dame Softball ACC Weekly Honorees

ACC Player of the Week
Karley Wester – Feb. 17

ACC Pitcher of the Week
Laura Winter – March 10

–ND–


— Tony Jones, Media Relations Assistant