CEDARVILLE, Ohio -- Notre Dame right fielder #Charisse Colston# hit three homeruns, and had 10 RBI's on Saturday afternoon against Cedarville, as the Falcons opened conference play with a double header sweep of the Yellow Jackets, 16-1, and 17-8 (Gm-1 | Gm-2).  

Notre Dame (5-13, 2-0) extended their winning streak in regular season AMC action to six. Their last loss in an AMC regular season game came back on April 20, 2010 against Malone. For the Yellow Jackets (13-11, 0-2) the losses give them three in their last four games.

The Falcons offense got started early by scoring five times in the top of the second inning. #Felisha Jones# brought in the game's first run with an RBI single to left field, and #Nicole Spehar# followed with a bunt base hit to score #Christine Camp#. Colston capped NDC's big inning with her first homerun of the contest. The three-run homer, was her fifth of the season, and her third first of three on the afternoon.

Colston and #Candace Shofar# started the top of the fourth inning with back-to-back base hits, and they both scored on #Christine Kasidonis#'s double to right center field. Kasidonis scored later in the inning after #Steph Glueck# reached on an error.

Colston, the 2010 AMC player of the year struck again in the top of the fifth inning with her second homerun of the contest, a solo shot deposited over the wall in left field. The Falcons added seven more runs in the fifth inning to seal the deal. Kasidonis drove in her third run of the contest with an RBI single to center field, and Glueck followed with a base hit to right, scoring #Mallory Harder# in the process. Three consecutive Cedarville errors allowed NDC to score their next three runs.

The Yellow Jackets were able to plate their lone run in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it was too little, too late.

In the opening contest, the Falcons scored 16 runs on 16 hits. Six Falcons recorded multi-hit games, and three (Colston, Kasidonis, Spehar) drove in multiple runs.

NDC was able to get on the board first in the second half of the twin bill. Glueck delivered a clutch, two out, RBI single to right field which scored Colston in the top of the first to give the Falcons an early lead. Cedarville tied things up in the bottom of the second inning on Kelsey Wilson's homerun, and then struck for three in the fourth inning to take the lead.

Kelsey Warrington smashed a solo homer in the aforementioned three run frame to snap a 1-1 tie, and Wilson struck again for Cedarville with a big two out, extra base hit. Wilson smashed Lennox's 2-1 pitch to left center field for a two-run double, giving the Yellow Jackets a 4-1 lead through four innings.

Notre Dame responded very quickly, by scoring 10 runs on seven hits in the top of the fifth inning. The Falcons sent 14 batters to the plate in the big frame, which was highlighted by three huge homeruns, one from Colston and two from Harder. Colston began the inning with a walk, followed by Shofar's base hit, which set up Harder's first homerun of the inning, a three-run blast that tied the game at 4-4.
Kasidonis and Glueck followed Harder's bomb with back-to-back singles, before #Michelle Dykes# delivered a pinch hit, RBI single to score the go ahead run, and Glueck scored a few moments later on a throwing error committed by Cedarville third baseman Sydney Miller. Colston stepped in with the bases full and one out, and smashed her third homerun of the afternoon, delivering NDC's first grand slam of the season. Two batters later, Harder hit her second homerun of the inning to cap the 10 run frame.

Cedarville was able to get three of those runs back, as Meghan Creech roped a three run double to left field off Lennox to pull the Yellow Jackets within four (11-7) in the bottom of the fifth. Creech scored a few moments later on Kenleigh Ludlow's bunt base hit to narrow the deficit to three.

As they had all afternoon long, the Falcons responded again by plating three runs, all with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. Colston drove in the first two on a double to right center field, and scored on Shofar's bunt base hit. The Falcons also added three more insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

On the afternoon, Colston went 6-for-8, with seven runs scored, to go along with her three homeruns and 10 RBI's. Colston has homered six times in her last six games, and she has homered in five consecutive games. Harder delivered a 4-fo-9 performance at the plate with four runs and three RBI'S. Shofar hit safely five times in seven at bats, and Kasidonis went 4-for-7 in the twin bill with three runs scored and she drove in three.


#Kim Lennox# (3-0) went the distance for Notre Dame in the first game to score the victory in her second start of the season. Lennox allowed just a run on four hits over five frames with one strikeout. She earned the victory in the second game as well, after allowing six runs on six hits in two innings of relief.

The Falcons are in action again on Monday, March 28, for their home opener against Mount Union. They first pitch in Monday's twin bill is scheduled for 3:00 PM.

NOTES FROM THE NEST ...

SERIES HISTORY: The Falcons and Yellow Jackets have met 19 times since 1999. During that stretch, the Yellow Jackets have an 11-8 edge in the all time series. Cedarville won 11 out of the first 12 meetings, but the Falcons have run off seven straight wins against the Yellow Jackets since 2006.

SHOFAR SO GOOD: Shofar leads the Falcons this season with seven multi-hit games. Five times this season, the junior center fielder has recorded two hits or more, and she has three, three-hit games. She is also hitting .423 (22-for-52) against right handed pitching.

RUN AWAY: With their 33 run output in Saturday's twin bill, the Falcons scored more runs in two games against Cedarville than they did in four games last weekend. The incredible offensive output gave them more runs in those two games than they had scored in their previous seven combined.