No. 25 Notre Dame Gets Past Falcons, 8-2

Tuesday, April 14

South Bend, Ind.

6:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

13-20

Notre Dame

33-11

Bowling Green

Notre Dame

Morgan Evangelista - BGSU v Toledo - March 29 2015

Freshman Morgan Evangelista had two of BGSU's six hits Tuesday at #25 Notre Dame

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

April 14, 2015 | Softball

Box Score

Freshman Morgan Evangelista has two hits and an RBI for BGSU

By: NOTRE DAME, Ind. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Nationally-ranked University of Notre Dame got past the Bowling Green State University softball team, 8-2, Tuesday evening (April 14) in non-conference action at Melissa Cook Stadium.

The Fighting Irish (33-11), ranked 25th in the country, scratched out a pair of first-inning runs, then took a six-run lead with four more runs in the third inning. The Falcons (13-20) answered with two runs in the fourth, but BGSU could draw no closer.

Freshman Morgan Evangelista led the Falcons with a pair of hits and a run batted in. Notre Dame had a narrow 9-6 advantage in hits on the evening.

"The score is not indicative of how we played today," said BGSU head coach Shannon Salsburg. "We hit the ball hard from inning one and played solid defense. Our pitchers manufactured playable outs against one of the best offenses in the country. It was an important day for us as we refocus on who are and how we plan to attack the rest of the season."

Notre Dame, who extended its current winning streak to 19 games, took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Karley Wester led off the inning with an infield single against sophomore starter Briana Combs, and an Emilee Koerner double put a pair of runners in scoring position. The Falcons got the first out of the inning on a fielder's choice as third baseman Chloe Giordano fired to catcher Evangelista, who applied the tag on Wester.

Micaela Arizmendi's fielder's choice scored Koerner with the game's first run, and Cassidy Whidden followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, plating Haus for a 2-0 UND lead. Combs then got Morgan Reed to hit a foul pop to Giordano at third for the final out of the inning.

UND starter Allie Rhodes, after working a one-two-three first inning, got the first two outs on fly balls in the second. Giordano gave a ball a ride to right field, and sophomore Haley Schrock sent the Irish leftfielder to the wall in left to corral her drive. Evangelista followed with a single up the middle, but Rhodes got a strikeout to end the half-inning.

The hosts got a two-out baserunner on a bunt single and an error in the bottom of the second, but Combs got Wester to hit an inning-ending fly ball to Schrock in left. Rhodes retired the Falcons in order in the third, however, and the Irish put four runs on the board in the bottom of the inning.

With one out, Haus singled up the middle, and Arizmendi followed suit. Whidden drew a walk, and Reed's single placed Haus for a 3-0 lead. A wild pitch advanced the runners, scoring another UND run, before Casey Africano's two-run single gave the Irish a six-run advantage. BG junior Braiden Dillow entered the game and got a pair of grounders to end the inning.

In the fourth, the Brown and Orange got on the scoreboard. Junior Marina Cobbs led off the inning, and reached base on a throwing error. With Cobbs at second, sophomore Aspen Searle singled to put runners at the corners. Searle took second on a wild pitch, with Cobbs coming home on an error by the UND catcher for the Falcons' first run.

Searle tagged and took third base on a Giordano fly ball to right, and Evangelista was safe on an infield single, her second hit of the game, with Searle crossing the plate to make it a 6-2 contest. Rhodes got a swinging strikeout to end the threat.

Dillow worked a perfect fourth inning, but Notre Dame reliever Katie Beriont retired the Falcons in order in the top of the fifth. After getting six-straight outs, Dillow allowed her first baserunner of the game on a one-out walk in the home half of the fifth. A groundout moved the runner to second base, but she was stranded there as the BG junior induced Africano to hit an inning-ending ground ball to third.

Cobbs led off with a single in the sixth inning, but was erased on a Searle fielder's choice. Searle advanced as far as third on a Giordano grounder, but was stranded there.

The home team pushed two more runs across in the bottom of the sixth, as a BG error, an infield hit and a pair of stolen bases put runners at second and third. From there, they scored on a Koerner single up the middle, before Dillow got the next two hitters to fly out.

In the seventh, the Falcons got a one-out pinch-hit single from junior Marisa Shook, and a two-out infield hit by sophomore Sami Parave advanced pinch-runner Emily McClelland all the way to third. But, Beriont got the next hitter to ground out to shortstop to end the game.

Rhodes got the win, allowing two unearned runs and three hits in four innings of work. Beriont surrendered three hits in her three-inning relief stint.

Combs took the loss for the Falcons, dropping to 3-5 on the year. Dillow gave up just two hits in three and two-thirds innings in the circle, allowing two runs (one earned).

Wester and Koerner, the top-two hitters in the batting order for Notre Dame, led the Irish with two hits apiece, while number-three hitter Haus scored a pair of runs. For the Falcons, as mentioned, Evangelista had a two-hit game, driving in a run. Cobbs and Searle each had a hit and a run scored.

The Falcons will return home for four Mid-American Conference games this weekend, hosting Ohio in a Friday (April 17) doubleheader and Akron in single games on Saturday and Sunday (April 18-19). Friday's twinbill begins a 12-game homestand for the Brown and Orange, who will not play away from Lee Meserve Field until the month of May.