Irish rally to win Big East
By CHRIS FEDERICO
Sports Editor
After a disappointing start to its 2002 season, the Notre Dame softball team has come on strong down the stretch of Big East play.
The Irish got off to a rocky start while facing one of the toughest slate of opponents they had ever seen. In the first 20 games, the Irish faced eight ranked opponents and went 8-12.
Since beginning Big East play, however, the Irish have been on fire, going 34-3 and pushing their season record up to 42-15.
During Big East play, Notre Dame knocked off fourth-ranked Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb., and captured the Big East regular season title by going 18-2 in conference play.
Last weekend, at the Big East tournament, the Irish again encountered some early troubles by dropping their first game to fourth-seeded Virginia Tech 8-3.
The usually solid Irish pitching struggled in that first game. Freshman Steffany Stenglein gave up three home runs in three innings before being replaced by classmate Carrie Wisen, who allowed another four runs over her four innings pitched.
"My pitches really weren't moving that day, so that allowed their hitters to be more effective," Stenglein said. "I don't know what my problem was that day. I just couldn't get the movement I usually do."
With the first-game loss, the Irish realized they would have to win the next four games to avoid elimination and win the tournament.
"Losing that first game wasn't exactly the path we wanted to take, but we knew we had the ability to win four straight," catcher Jarrah Myers said.
The Irish warded off elimination by Syracuse in the second day of play on the strength of three home runs from third baseman Andrea Loman, Myers and right fielder Megan Ciolli. Ciolli's long ball came in the last inning with a tie score to put the Irish on top.
In their next game that day the Irish again stood on the brink of elimination. Down 4-3 in the last inning against Villanova, Notre Dame rallied with and RBI single from Loman and an insurance RBI double from shortstop Andria Bledsoe.
On the last day of the tournament, the Irish again faced Virginia Tech, and had to defeat the Hokies twice to win the title. In the doubleheader, the pair of freshman Irish pitchers demonstrated the command on the mound they had shown most of the season. Stenglein pitched 10.2 innings in the doubleheader and allowed two runs while picking up the two wins. Wisen came in to earn the saves in both games, contributing 3.1 innings of scoreless work.
"Coach Gumpf and [catcher] Jarrah [Myers] really helped me out," Stenglein said. "They helped me to be more mentally and physically prepared. I mixed my pitches up more in those games to keep their hitters more confused and off-balance."
The victory earned the Irish an automatic bid to the NCAA Tourna-ment. Notre Dame was awarded a third seed in the Region VII bracket in Iowa City, Iowa.
The Irish faced regional-host Iowa in their first game. The Hawkeyes defeated the Irish twice last year in the same venue to knock them out of the tournament.
"[Playing Iowa again] worked out very nicely," Myers said. "I think we just need to show up, relax and play. We are very capable of beating them because I think that we are a better team. We also have the revenge factor which doesn't hurt."
Other teams in that bracket included three previous Irish opponents: top-seeded and No. 7 Nebraska, second-seeded and No. 15 Oregon State, fourth-seeded and No. 22 Iowa and sixth-seeded Illinois-Chicago. Wisconsin is the fifth seed in the bracket.
The first day of play at Iowa was Thursday.
The games were completed after The Observer went to press.
Notes:
* Senior catcher Jarrah Myers became the fourth Irish player to earn the Big East Player of the Year award during the Big East Tournament weekend. She led the conference in batting average, home runs, runs scored, RBI, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Myers also was the only unanimous pick for the all-Big East first team.
* First-year Irish head coach Deanna Gumpf and her staff — Charmelle Green, Kris McCleary and Bill Roggeman — claimed the second consecutive coaching staff of the year award for the Notre Dame.
* The Irish dominated the all-Big East first-team list, landing seven players on the squad. Myers joined teammates Bledsoe, Loman, Lisa Mattison, Jenny Kriech, Ciolli and Stenglein in earning the honors. Ciolli, Stenglein and Wisen also were named to the all-rookie team.
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 17, 2002
