Clermont, Fla. – The Notre Dame Falcons came back from an early 3-0 deficit to take down the No. 7 Grand Valley State University Lakers, 5-4, on Sunday night.
This is the Falcons (3-2) first win over Grand Valley State in the past four years. The Lakers (3-3) began their Spring Trip today and lost both games.
To start the game, Teagan Shomin singled, Kelsey Dominguez hit an RBI triple and Jenna Lenza reached on a fielder's choice to score Dominguez for Grand Valley State. Lenza scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Kelcie LaTour, giving the Lakers a three run lead.
The Falcons then started to chip away at the lead.
Sarah Depp hit an inside-the-park home run to lead off the bottom of the third inning.
With bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning,
Nicole Paolucci reached on a fielder's choice which scored
Alyssa Larson. Depp came up big, again, with an RBI single to tie the game at three and cap the two run inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, Shannon Flaherty hit an RBI groundout to the Falcons' pitcher,
Taylor Olson, which put Grand Valley back in front. In the bottom of the inning, the Falcons' offense tied the game when
Shelby Stephens and
Emily Kusmits led off with back-to-back singles. With runners on first and third,
Maria Vanadia hit a sacrifice fly to left field.
The Falcons then took their first lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Depp led off with a single and got to second base on a groundout.
Nicole Luciano doubled, moving Depp to third base. Depp then scored on a groundout off the bat of Kusmits.
For the Falcons, Depp went 3-for-3 with two RBI. Kusmits and Calhoun both had two hits. Falcons' pitcher, Olson (1-1), picked up her first win of the year as she struck out five and allowed four runs.
Ellie Balbach (1-1) was the starting pitcher for GVSU and went 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. She took the loss. Courtney Reinhold allowed only one run in 1.2 innings of relief. Flaherty and Dominguez had two hits.
The Falcons play tomorrow at 9 a.m. against the New York Institute of Technology in Clermont, Fla.
