DECATUR, Ala. -- The Lady Flames of Lee University (Tenn.) came into the opening day of the 2010 NAIA National Championship Tournament with a No. 2 national ranking, 55 wins on the season and a nearly unhittable pitcher in the circle. After a nine-inning, 2 ½-hour tussle with Notre Dame, Lee managed to escape with a 56th victory, earned in downing the Falcons, 4-2. (Box)

Notre Dame (25-25) spotted the Lady Flames a 1-0 lead and came back in dramatic fashion to send the game into extra innings on a home run by sophomore left fielder #Michelle Dykes#.

“We really hung in there with them,” said NDC Head Coach #Amy Kyler#, whose Falcons are now 1-3 in extra innings this season. “Michelle's homer kept us in it; we just couldn't close the door.”

With the victory, Lee (56-4) has now won 13 consecutive games, dating back to April 13. The Lady Flames came into the tournament off winning the league title in the Southern States Athletic Conference by sweeping four opponents with a combined score of 32-3. They came into the Thursday-afternoon tilt with the Falcons having outscored foes, 384-111.

On Thursday it was Lee's ace pitcher, Johana Gomez -- a native of Pirito, Venezuela -- who kept the opponent's offense in check. Gomez came into the game with a microscopic 0.49 ERA in 155 2/3 innings of work this season. She had fanned 241 batters in those 115-plus innings, while holding foes to a .106 batting average.

Against the Falcons, a team that came in batting .324 (444-for-1,371) on the season, Gomez worked into the fifth before allowing a one-out single to pitcher #Ashley Harbarger#. The 28-game winner got out of the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts, two of the 14 she would rack up against Notre Dame.

For her part, Harbarger matched zeroes with the Lee ace. The sophomore hurler scattered three hits and two walks over five scoreless frames, before yielding a solo home run to Gomez herself in the top of the sixth.

Gomez extended her shutout into the seventh, and then, with the Falcons down to their last strike and on the short end of a 1-0 score, Michelle Dykes got a hold of a 2-2 Gomez delivery and deposited it over the fence in left-center field.

That round-tripper, Dykes' fifth of the season, sent the game into extra innings. Neither side scored in the eighth. In the top of the ninth the Lady Flames plated three runs on three hits and three walks.

NDC managed to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but they would manage just one run and fall to 0-1 in the tournament with a 4-2 loss.

With her late-inning heroics, Dykes was the Falcons top offensive performer on a day when hits were hard to come by. She went 1-for-4 and knocked in both NDC runs (Dykes brought home sister Melissa with a fielder's-choice grounder in the ninth).

Johana Gomez went the route for LU, striking out 14 while issuing three walks. The win marked her 29th of the season; she's 29-1.

“Gomez was throwing really well,” said Kyler. “She doesn't give you many opportunities to string together hits and score runs.”

For her part, Harbarger pitched well if not quite on par with Gomez. The Akron, Ohio, native allowed four runs on eight hits and five walks and had NDC tied in a 1-1 war with the No. 2 team in the nation through a regulation seven innings.

On Friday, the Falcons will have a shot at redemption against another ranked foe, when they take on another Tennessee school in No. 17 Trevecca. First pitch against the 41-15 Trojans is slated for 4 p.m. ET.

Notre Dame's competing in Decatur marks their second appearance at the national tournament; the Falcons advanced out of pool play and finished in an eventual tie for fifth place in last year's national tournament.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

CLEVELAND CONNECTION: Lee University is a private Christian institution located in Cleveland, Tenn., in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. LU was established in 1918 and has a current enrollment of 4,262. In athletics, the Flames compete as a member of the Southern States Athletic Conference. Lee sponsors 13 athletic squads overall. … In softball, the Falcons and Lady Flames had met once before, playing a single game in 2009. NDC won that game over a ranked LU squad (No. 11), 7-5. Lee came into this season ranked No. 16 in the NAIA Coaches' Preseason Poll; they have been in the Top-5 of the coaches' poll since March 23.

LEE-WAY: LU came into Thursday's tournament opener averaging 6.5 runs per game (13th NAIA) and having allowed just 1.9 runs per game defensively (sixth). The Lady Flames toted a sparkling 1.11 ERA to Decatur; that figure ranks second in the NAIA.

MISS MAY: With her two RBIs on Thursday, Michelle Dykes has collected seven in five games in the month of May. All seven have come in tournament play (American Mideast Conference and NAIA). The Youngstown, Ohio, native is now tied with #Charisse Colston# for the team lead in multi-RBI games this season, with 10. 

MISSING BATS: With her performance on Thursday, Ashley Harbarger is now 4-3, with a 1.52 ERA over her last nine games. For the season, the freshman pitcher is 10-6, with a 2.30 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 112 2/3 innings.  She's tossed a team-high five shutouts.