SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Dominant pitching by Grace Fisher and a balanced offense of eight runs on eight hits allowed Notre Dame College to beat Fairmont State University, 8-0, in five innings. In a low scoring second game, Fairmont State scored twice in the top of the seventh to sneak by with a 3-2 victory.
 
Notre Dame did just about everything right to start the doubleheader against Fairmont State. The NDC Falcons had at least one runner on base in every inning of game one. The scoring began in the bottom of the first after freshman Danielle Fick reached on a leadoff walk. She ran to second on a groundout and took third base on a wild pitch. Sophomore Emma Gumont knocked the run in with a groundout to third.
 
On the other side, FSU only had one baserunner, and no hits, through the first three innings. To start the fourth inning, back-to-back singles had the FSU Falcons threatening to tie the game. However, the next three hitters popped up.
 
Fisher pitched five innings, getting the complete game shutout. She allowed just two hits and struck out five.
 
In the fourth inning, Notre Dame really opened up the scoring. Another leadoff walk put graduate student Alexi Maciejowski on first base and she stole second. Sophomores Alyssa Wahl and Destany Blake hit back-to-back singles and Blake's base hit brought a run home. Two batters later, freshman Lindsay Breuer dropped a base hit into right field, allowing two more to score. And then Fick capped the five-run inning with a two-run homer to left field.
 
Sophomore Ella Collinsworth then led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a ground rule double, and she stole third. Wahl came through, again, with a single to center field, which put NDC up by eight runs and gave them the win in five innings.
 
Wahl posted a career-high three hits and led the team in that category.
 
Game two was a pitching duel. Fairmont State posted three hits through the first five innings. Notre Dame had a pair of base hits in the first inning, but did not score and FSU had a runner thrown out at the plate on an infield grounder in the third.
 
The NDC Falcons put the first run on the board in the fourth inning. With one out, Collinsworth reached on an error. Wahl recorded her fourth hit of the day and Collinsworth went to third. Blake stepped up and hit an RBI double to center, scoring one, but pinch-runner Kelly Troup was out at home on a relay throw from the second baseman.
 
Both teams threatened in the fifth inning, with runners in scoring position, but no one scored.
 
An error allowed FSU's first run to score in the sixth inning, tying the game at one. Fairmont State would score two important runs in the top of the seventh on a pair of singles, taking a 3-1 lead.
 
Notre Dame fought back in the bottom of the seventh frame. Senior Emily Marsh led off with a double to left field. Pinch-runner Emmilee McCracken reached third base on a ground out and scored on an RBI single by junior Katelyn DeWeese. But that would be all the Falcons could get.
 
DeWeese had three hits in the game and Marsh set a season-high with two. Sophomore Allison Weilnau pitched four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, but did walk five. Fisher pitched the final three innings, allowing three runs, but only one was earned.
 
Notre Dame is right back at it tomorrow, April 8, with a doubleheader with Frostburg State University. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.