Notre Dame softball was back at Melissa Cook Stadium this past weekend as they welcomed Pittsburgh for their third consecutive ACC home series.
first-year head coach Kris Ganeff’s Irish were coming off a rare 10-10 tie on Tuesday against Northwestern in Evanston, but had taken two of three the previous weekend at home against No. 22 Virginia.
Both Notre Dame and Pitt entered the orange-themed Strikeout Cancer Weekend with losing records, making the series pivotal. In game one on Friday night, the Irish quickly got out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning, but the Panthers showed no quit by tying the game at four. Notre Dame came back to bat in the bottom of the seventh and turned things around.
Senior outfielder Emily Tran led off the frame by drawing a walk to put the winning run on the base paths. That set up sophomore shortstop Addison Amaral, who took home All-ACC Second-Team honors after her rookie campaign and had upped her batting average to over .400 this season. Having already mashed a solo home run in the third and opposite-field double in the fifth, Amaral lined a walk-off down the left-field line to plate Tran and secure the 5-4 victory.
Sophomore pitcher Kami Kamzik made her 12th start of the season in the win, going six innings and limiting the DePaul bats to just five hits and one run.
The Irish continued their hot streak on Saturday afternoon, recording a 12-4 run-rule win to inch closer to the .500 mark. Senior infielder Anna Holloway turned in the best game of her career, tallying four hits and driving in half of Notre Dame’s runs. Overall, the Irish offense totaled 12 hits and 10 walks in the convincing victory.
Freshman lefty pitcher Brianne Weiss got the win out of the pen for the Irish, surrendering just one hit and no runs over her four innings of action.
Despite another good showing from the pitching staff in the series finale, a costly error and lack of offense saw Notre Dame fall 5-1 on Sunday. Weiss recorded a pair of strikeouts and Holloway picked up her 7th RBI of the weekend in the defeat.
Now sitting at 18-21-1 overall and 6-9 in league play, the Irish will turn their attention to the DePaul Blue Demons of the Big East. DePaul has struggled this season, sitting at eighth place in the conference with a 13-20 overall record and a 1-11 conference mark. They are just 3-9 away from home this season and have dropped 12 of their last 15 contests.
The Blue Demons are led at the plate by senior infielder Baylee Cosgrove, who is hitting .311 with a OPS of .812. Sophomore utility Lydia Ettema has also contributed in the box, hitting .306 with a slugging percentage of .597. The two programs were slated to play in both 2021 and 2022, but weather cancelled both games, meaning this will be the first matchup since an 8-0 Irish shutout back in April 2016.
Tuesday evening’s tilt with the Blue Demons is set for a 5 p.m. first pitch with streaming available on ACCNX.
