March 9, 2014
THE FLATS – The No. 21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17-4, 2-1 ACC) scored six runs in the second inning en route to a 12-0 run-rule victory against Georgia Tech (13-6, 2-4 ACC) to win the series on Sunday afternoon at Mewborn Field.
Sunday’s game was also Tech’s annual “Pink Game”. The Jackets had a ceremonial first pitch by 13-year breast cancer survivor and freshman outfielder Samantha Pierannunzi’s mom Jeannie, and they will auction off replicas of their pink jerseys with all proceeds benefiting the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The auction begins March 16 and runs through March 30, with the bidding starting at $50.
The Jackets continue ACC action Wednesday with a doubleheader against Virginia at Mewborn Field. Action begins at 4 p.m. and both games will air live on ESPN3 with Melissa Lee and Roddy Jones on the call.
“It was a disappointing loss. We didn’t come to play today,” head coach Shelly Hoerner said. “Kylie didn’t have her best stuff today and they made the adjustments from yesterday and hit her. They hit Kanani too. Good teams are going to make adjustments. We gave them too many chances.”
Georgia Tech starter Kylie Kleinschmidt (9-3) loaded the bases in the first frame with one out, but fanned the next two batters to end the threat. In the subsequent inning, Notre Dame found its rhythm and scored six runs, one of them earned, on six hits off of Kleinschmidt, who absorbed the loss.
Kanani Cabrales entered the game to pitch in the third inning and allowed three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings.
In the fourth inning, the Jackets had runners on first and second courtesy of a leadoff double by Alysha Rudnik and a single to right center off the bat of Katie Johnsky. The Jackets had a chance to get on the board with one out, but Notre Dame pitcher Laura Winter struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning.
Winter (11-2) pitched all five innings and limited the Jackets to three hits with seven strikeouts to earn the win.
