Season continues in NCAA Tournament
By RACHAEL PROTZMAN
Sports Writer
The Notre Dame softball team, currently ranked No. 17 in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, is advancing to the NCAA regionals after a successful season highlighted by the Big East championship title.
The Irish, currently 46-12 overall and 15-2 in the Big East, defeated Boston College (5-2) and Connecticut (5-0 and 7-0) for 11 straight wins to earn the conference title.
In the NCAA regional tournament, the Irish will look to top the season record of 48 set by the 1996 team. Notre Dame is headed to Michigan to take on Illinois-Chicago in the first round this weekend.
Head Coach Liz Miller won her second conference coach of the year title.
Junior Jennifer Sharron finished 6-2 in the conference to earn her third straight Big East pitcher-of-the-year title. She struck out 69 batters in 50 innings to lead the Irish.
Junior Melanie Alkire was also honored as she earned her second straight conference player of the year title with a school record of 59 RBI's in the 2000 season. Alkire leads the Irish overall with a batting average of .380.
Freshman Andrea Loman joins the upperclassman with the Big East co-rookie-of-the-year title. Loman leads Notre Dame offensively in the conference with a batting average of .400.
Joining Alkire, Sharron and Loman on the all-Big East first team are Jarrah Myers, Lizzy Lemire, Danielle Klayman and Jennifer Kriech. Andria Bledsoe was also honored as she was named to the all-Big East second team.
The Irish went the distance as they topped many records this season. With only four homeruns in 1998, Notre Dame grabbed 29 in 1999 for a team record and 35 this year to top that. Alkire hit 13 to top her previous record of 10. The Irish also racked up 23 shutouts for a new record to top the 1999 and 1996 team's record of 21.
The Irish kicked off the year with a second-place finish in University of Nevada's Las Vegas Tournament. Notre Dame split its six games in the Morning News Tournament.
Going into their third tournament, the Irish were finally able to earn a title as they went 4-0 at the State Line Classic in Tennessee. Notre Dame did not allow a single run as it defeated Tennessee, No.2 Virginia Tech and Kentucky.
With two victories over San Diego State and one over Loyola Marymount, the Irish headed into the Kia Classic for spring break in Fullerton, California with four wins and two losses.
The Irish then split with Purdue in a home-season opener before heading to the Purdue Tournament where they topped Kent State, Toledo and Purdue while falling to Michigan.
A win over Eastern Michigan prepped Notre Dame for its first conference games where it fell to Connecticut in game one before beginning a nine-game winning streak including Connecticut, Providence (2), Western Michigan, Villanova (2), Butler (2) and DePaul. A loss in game two against DePaul ended the streak.
Notre Dame split with future opponent Boston College and topped Loyola-Chicago before another split against Indiana State. Notre Dame then topped St. John's 7-2 and 5-0 and Seton Hall 6-2 and 5-1 to head into the Big East tournament with a top seed.
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 19, 2000
