Irish Snap Falcons' Seven-Game Win Streak, 4-0

Tuesday, April 24

Notre Dame, IN

5:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

25-20

Notre Dame

30-18

Bowling Green

Notre Dame

April 24, 2018 | Softball

Box Score

Two-out bloop single opens the door for three first-inning runs

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

The University of Notre Dame scored three times in the first inning Tuesday evening (April 24), and the Fighting Irish went on to a 4-0 win over the Bowling Green State University softball team in non-conference action at Melissa Cook Stadium.

LINKS
BGSU-UND STATISTICS: PDF

The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for the Falcons (25-20), who were outhit by a narrow 7-5 margin.

UND's number-one pitcher, Alexis Holloway, picked up the complete-game shutout win for the Irish (30-18). Junior Meredith Miller took the tough-luck loss for the Orange and Brown.

In that first inning, Miller allowed a pair of baserunners on a hit batter and a walk, but appeared to have worked her way out of trouble when she induced Cait Brooks to loft a fly ball toward right field. The ball, however, dropped for a run-scoring single, and that hit opened the door to a three-run inning.

The Irish would score just one more run the rest of the way, but that was more than enough support for Holloway.

Five different Falcons had one hit apiece, including senior Aspen Searle. Searle saw her streak of seven consecutive multiple-hit games come to an end, but her third-inning single increased her overall hit streak to eight games.

TURNING THE TABLES

Entering Tuesday's game, the Falcons had scored in the first inning in each of the previous six games – all wins – with 17 first-inning runs in that time. But, at Notre Dame, BG was held off the scoreboard in the opening inning for the first time in nearly two weeks.
The Falcons have outscored the opponents, 38-23, in the first inning this season to date.

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"It was good for our program to play against a strong program like Notre Dame. It helped to show our athletes where we need to sharpen our approach within the game. I thought our pitchers did a nice job in the circle and we had some strong at-bats against a good pitcher. We are needing to find ways, as an offense, to consistently manufacture runs and make adjustments more quickly."

BGSU-UND – HOW IT HAPPENED

The Falcons had four hits against UND starter Alexis Holloway in the first three innings, including a single by freshman Sammy Dees with one out in the first inning. But, a popup to first and a strikeout ended the half inning.
In the home half of the inning, Abby Sweet was hit by a Meredith Miller pitch, and after striking out number-three hitter Morgan Reed, the junior issued a two-out walk to Katie Marino, putting runners at first and second.
The next hitter, Cait Brooks, lofted a ball to right. The ball dropped between several BGSU fielders for a two-out single, and a run scored. Then, a bloop single off the bat of Melissa Rochford scored a pair of runs. Notre Dame had not hit the ball hard off of Miller, but the Fighting Irish had a 3-0 lead.
The second inning saw juniors Kaylee Parker and Kellie Natham pound out base hits to left, but Holloway and the Irish got out of the inning with a grounder to third.
After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning, a Madison Heide popup was caught by charging shortstop Aspen Searle, and the senior fired the ball to first to double up MK Bonamy. Alexis Bazos followed with a single, but Miller got leadoff hitter Ali Wester to ground out to short to end the inning.
Searle banged a single up the middle with two outs in the third, but Holloway then retired the next five batters and 13 of the final 14 hitters.
BG's only remaining baserunner after Searle's hit came with one down in the fifth, when sophomore Taylor Blevins – making just her second start of the season – reached on an infield single.
Miller worked out of a no-outs, second-and-third jam in the third inning. After hitting Sweet with a pitch and allowing a double to Reed, she struck out Marino, got Brooks to hit a liner directly to Searle, then threw a third strike past Rochford.
Bonamy doubled in the fourth inning, as her hard-hit ball through the left side of the infield went all the way to the wall. Miller got the next hitter to pop up to short, and on a grounder to the left side, third baseman Sarah Gonzalez looked Bonamy back to second before throwing to first. But, Wester's two-out single plated Bonamy with the game's final run.
Junior Brooke Parker entered the game and got an inning-ending fly ball. Parker allowed just one hit in her relief stint.
The Falcons turned another double play in the fifth inning. After a walk, Dees caught a popup by Brooks, and the freshman second baseman fired the ball to first to easily double Reed off base.
Holloway retired eight-straight hitters to end the game. In the sixth, the pitcher made a catch of a liner off the bat of Searle. The senior smoked a ball right back up the middle, but with virtually no time to react, Holloway caught the ball almost in self defense. She then struck out two of the next three batters, before her second baseman made the final two putouts of the game.

BGSU-UND – STATS & LEADERS

Notre Dame had a narrow 7-5 lead in the hits department, with 12 different players picking up one hit apiece.
Brooks scored a run and drove in a run, while Rochford had a pair of RBI. Wester had an RBI single as well.
Holloway picked up the win for the Irish, improving to 18-11 on the year. She allowed five hits and struck out five without issuing a walk.
Miller suffered the loss, giving up four runs and six hits. She walked two and fanned three.
Brooke Parker allowed just one hit in 2 1/3 innings of relief. Parker walked one batter.
Blevins, Dees, Natham, Kaylee Parker and Searle all had hits for the Falcons. Searle saw her streak of multiple-hit games come to an end at seven, but she will take an eight-game hitting streak into the weekend.

UP NEXT

BGSU returns home to prepare for a three-game weekend series vs. Kent State at Meserve Field. The Falcons and Flashes are scheduled to play a single game Friday (April 27), followed by a Saturday (April 28) doubleheader.

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