April 22, 2008

PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – Notre Dame traveled up Cedar Road Tuesday to Pepper Pike to continue their busy week of games. The Falcons split two games with their eastside rival, Ursuline College. NDC dropped the first game, 2-1 and then rallied to take the nightcap, 7-2.

With the split, Notre Dame is now 18-10 on the season and 9-5 in the North Division of the American Mideast Conference (AMC).

Game one (UC 2, NDC 1)
In game one, Ursuline pushed across a run in the first on three consecutive two-out singles. The Falcons answered with a solo run in the third on an Anna Ball (Jr/Bellville, OH) RBI single to center.

In a pitcher's duel between NDC's Meredith Harbarger (Fr/Akron, OH) and UC's Stephanie Rajcan (Jr/Richmond Heights, OH), the game remained knotted at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth.

In the sixth, again with two outs, Ursuline scored another lone run, this time in the form of a home run off the bat of catcher Amy DiFiore (Jr/Valley View, OH). NDC put three aboard in the seventh but coudn't manage a run.

For the game, Rajcan scattered seven Falcon hits. Harbarger allowed just three hits after the first inning. She struck out five and did not issue a walk.

Game two (NDC 7, UC 2)
In the nightcap, the Notre Dame offense finally came alive. The Falcons posted crooked numbers in the second and fourth to take a commanding 6-0 lead. After their struggles against Rajcan in the opener, the NDC bats pounded out three doubles and a homer in game two.

Shortstop Stephanie Tartaglione (Jr/Euclid, OH) hit her second home run in as many days to lead off the second. NDC scored two more in the second and scored another three in the fourth.

Starter Katie Lapczenski (Sr/Willoughby Hills, OH) would make those runs stand up.The Falcons' senior hurler tossed five shutout frames before yielding a pair of runs in the sixth. For the game, Lapczenski allowed eight hits, seven of which were singles. The two runs she allowed were unearned as the result of a Jessica Simmons (So/Garfield Heights, OH) error at second with two down in the sixth.

For the two games combined, Anna Ball reached base six times on a double, three singles, and two walks. Amy DiFiore led the Arrows with a three-hit afternoon.

Notre Dame remained in second place in the AMC North with the split. The Falcons trail the Walsh Cavaliers by six games, and they're three games ahead of Point Park (PA).

Ursuline (3-17, 2-14) picked up just their second North win of the season in the opener. The Arrows are in last place in the six-team circuit.

Notre Dame's next games are slated for Thursday, when they travel to Ohio Wesleyan to take on the Battling Bishops in a 3:30pm non-conference doubleheader.