DURHAM, N.C. – The Notre Dame softball team battled the 17th-ranked Duke Blue Devils to the very end, but dropped Thursday’s series opener 5-4. The Irish are now 20-25-1 and 6-13 in ACC play.
Rachel Allen started the game with a bang, hitting a two-run homer over the right field fence to score Caroline O’Brien, who led off the game with a double. With the homer, Allen extended her on-base streak to 13 games.
Duke countered in the bottom half of the first with four runs of its own. The first four Blue Devils recorded hits, including back-to-back home runs in the inning.
Allen continued her big day in the top of the third. After Emily Tran and Addison Amaral collected back-to-back hits, the Irish backstop grounded a ball back up the middle to score the pair, tying the game at four-all. The 4 RBI marked a career-high for Allen.
After being held scoreless for nearly three innings, the Blue Devils retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of two-out hits, including an RBI double into the right center field gap to give Duke a 5-4 lead after four.
Shannon Becker took over for Kami Kamzik to start the bottom of the sixth. After a shaky first inning, Kamzik only allowed one run over four innings to one of the top hitting teams in the ACC. Becker tossed a 1-2-3 sixth inning.
Pinch hitting in the top of the seventh, Caitlyn Early drew a leadoff walk to put an early baserunner on. Fellow freshman Avery Houlihan pinch ran for her and advanced to second on a groundout to put a runner in scoring position with one out.
Duke starter Cassidy Curd, still in the game in the seventh, got Tran to fly out to left to bring up a critical matchup against Amaral. With a 1-1 count, Amaral ripped a ball into center field, but a perfect one hop throw from center fielder D’Auna Jennings threw Houlihan out at home to end the game.
Notre Dame will look to bounce back tomorrow night. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.