Irish want to show No. 7 DePaul last time was a fluke
By MATT LOZAR
Associate Sports Editor
Because of their numerous rainouts, the Irish missed out on a chance at a top-10 non-conference opponent to make up a Big East conference doubleheader.
Today, the Irish get their chance.
Notre Dame (32-11) travels to Chicago this afternoon to face No. 7 DePaul (39-5-1) with the hopes of starting a new winning streak. Sunday at Connecticut, Notre Dame's 20-game winning streak, second longest in school history, was snapped. The Irish rebounded to beat the Huskies in game two of the doubleheader 6-3.
"We learned we need to make adjustments quickly and to keep winning, we need to continue to make quick adjustments," pitcher Carrie Wisen said.
Over spring break at the Kia Klassic, the Irish lost to the then No. 14 Blue Demons 11-2. In that game, the Notre Dame roster was depleted due to a strep throat virus affecting the team. Two players were relegated to the bench and a number of other players fought through the symptoms.
This time, the Irish are at full strength and want to earn some respect against one of the best teams in the country.
"Anytime we get beat, we know we are better than any team out there," Wisen said. "We want to make sure it doesn't happen again."
There is no weak spot in the Blue Demons' armor with the offense batting .325 and the pitching staff boasting a 0.71 ERA. Individually, Sarah Martz (.483) and Liz Bouck (.418) get on base for DePaul while Kathy Kukman (.370, 36 RBI) and Saskia Roberson (.342, 11 home runs, 37 RBI) provide the power.
Lindsay Chouinard leads the DePaul pitching staff with a 25-4 mark, 0.43 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 195 2/3 innings pitched. Sarah Martz has been almost as good earning a 14-1 record and 1.26 ERA. This combination of offense and pitching has led the Blue Demons to be one of the top teams in the country.
"We don't really pay attention to rankings. We take each team individually," Wisen said. "It is a really important game as far as post-conference, as far as regionals, to show that we belong."
During the end of the Irish winning streak, a number of players started to heat up in the batter's box. Third baseman Andrea Loman is on a 14-game winning streak, with 23 hits, 14 RBI, three home runs and five stolen bases during the span. Megan Ciolli is hitting .630 with 17 hits and two home runs, and first baseman Lisa Mattison has driven in 15, batting .531 over the past ten games.
Also, Heather Booth continues to pitch well going 3-1 with two shutouts, 30 strikeouts and a 1.03 ERA over the last ten contests.
Notre Dame and DePaul's doubleheader is set to begin at 4 p.m.
That is, if it doesn't rain. The Irish have lost eight games to bad weather this season and today's forecast calls for afternoon showers and a 30 percent chance for rain.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, April 29, 2003
