The Observer, April 21, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 25
Lady Spartans hit a bump in the road against Notre Dame
click to enlarge
After a long road spell, the Lady Spartan softball team returned home Tuesday to begin a stretch of three doubleheaders against local rivals. Tuesday, the ladies faced Notre Dame College, and the Spartans lost two close games, 3-1 and 5-2.
Notre Dame took advantage of Case errors and some clutch hitting in both games. In game one, Anna Ball drove in the first of two Notre Dame runs in the top of the sixth inning with a two-out single. Nicole Miller then pinch-ran for Ball and scored on a Case error during the next at-bat. Those runs were all the support pitcher Sarah Holets needed in the Falcons' 3-1 victory.
Amanda Bell pitched the whole game for Case, allowing only five hits and one earned run in seven innings. She pitched a very effective game, but the sophomore did not believe that she was throwing her best that afternoon.
"I didn't feel like I was throwing that hard," she said. "I just relied on my fielders."
The Case offense was not able to take advantage of Bell's strong start, as they managed only one run on seven hits while stranding seven runners, compared to Notre Dame's two. The Spartans scored their lone run in the bottom of the seventh, when Lauren Seeds doubled home Kristin Courtney, who began the inning with a leadoff single.
The second game finished with a similar result for the Spartans. The key inning of the game was the third, when Notre Dame scored all of its five runs. The Falcons began the inning with three straight singles, putting Spartan pitcher Ruth Sagartz in an immediate jam. Sagartz then walked a batter with the bases loaded to score Notre Dame's first run. Two batters later, Notre Dame's Jill Gigliotti had a two-run single. One error and one hit later, Case found itself trailing, 5-1.
The Spartans had taken an early, brief lead in the bottom of the second on Bell's fourth home run of the year. They cut Notre Dame's lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI single by Jen Bullen that scored Angel Rice. However, that was the last run the Spartans scored, and they lost the game by that same 5-2 score.
Similar to other losses earlier in the season, the Spartans were not able to get the big hits when they needed to score.
"We hit the ball hard today," said head coach Jennie Amodio after the game. "We just couldn't put together any runs."
Amodio could not pinpoint any particular reason why the Spartans struggled to score more runs, but she did give Notre Dame credit for an outstanding performance.
"That Notre Dame team is one of the best in their conference right now," she said. "They are a good ballclub. We made some crucial errors, and good teams take advantage of those."
The Spartans were looking forward to some home cooking after a long road trip, but the home stretch obviously did not begin the way they wanted. Amodio noted that playing games at home is not necessarily an automatic advantage.
"On the road, all you think about is the game," she said. "You're more focused on what you need to do. At home, there are more distractions."
Hopefully the Lady Spartans will be able to make a smoother adjustment from playing on the road to playing at home over the weekend, as they host Ursuline College for a Sunday doubleheader starting at noon.
