University of Louisville
NOTRE DAME
Softball Downs Notre Dame 6-0 in BIG EAST Semifinals
May 13, 2011 | Softball
May 13, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - Senior Chelsea Bemis hit a three-run homer and junior Tori Collins struck out seven in her second straight shutout as the University of Louisville softball team defeated top-seeded No. 18/24 Notre Dame 6-0 in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship Friday evening. The Cardinals (36-17) will face the No. 3 seed Syracuse (43-11) in the finals Saturday at 5 p.m. (ESPN2).
The fifth-seeded Cards broke through with a run in the second when Maggie Ruckenbrod delivered a two-out single and took second on Kristin Austin's base hit. Taner Fowler worked the count to 3-2 and saw 13 pitches, fouling off seven straight before delivering an RBI single to give Louisville a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame (45-9) had a chance to score in the third when Brianna Jorgensborg was hit by a pitch to start the inning and took second on Lauren Sturh's sacrifice bunt. Alexa Maldonado's bunt single placed runners on the corners with one out. Collins got Alexia Clay to groundout and Heather Johnson was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs. Dani Miller fouled out to catcher Maggie Ruckenbrod to end the threat.
U of L put up a four-spot in the third when Katie Keller walked and Jennifer Esteban beat the throw on a bunt single to set up Chelsea Bemis's three-run homer. The senior third baseman sent a shot over center field for her team-leading tenth home run of the season. Alicja Wolny followed with a double, took third on Colby Wherry's sacrifice bunt and came home on a hit by Ruckenbrod to make the score 5-0.
Keller's sixth home run of the season extended the lead to 6-0 in the fourth.
Notre Dame had another scoring opportunity in the sixth when Katie Fleury and Erin Marrone connected on back-to-back one-out singles. Jorgensborg's flyout sent Fleury to third, but Collins delivered a strikeout to preserve the shutout.
Collins (16-9) scattered four hits and fanned seven en route to her 10th shutout of the season - and second in the BIG EAST tournament. Ruckenbrod was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Fowler finished 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Notre Dame starter Brittany O'Donnell (10-1) took the loss, surrendering four earned runs on five hits in 2.0 innings of work.
NOTES: Friday's game snapped Notre Dame's 14-game winning streak - their last loss was on April 17 when the Cards handed them their only conference loss, beating them 9-6 in South Bend. This was also the first time since 2001 that the Irish have been shut out in the BIG EAST tournament.
- Saturday's matchup will mark the second year in a row that the Cardinals and the Orange have met in the conference title game. Last season, Syracuse picked up its first league title with a 2-1 win.
- Syracuse has won the past five meetings between the teams, dating back to last year's BIG EAST Championship game. The Orange defeated the Cards 3-2 in the `Bama Bash on Feb. 18 and completed a three-game sweep last weekend in the regular season finale with scores of 3-0, 9-5 and 5-2 in Syracuse.
