Michalak goes over 400 career strikeouts in ND’s romp
Notre Dame’s formula for winning a big softball game was lethal in its simplicity.
Have a big first inning and let one of the state’s best pitchers take it from there.
The Irish did just that in a battle between two of the area’s top teams in taking a 9-0 victory at Robbinsville Thursday.
Notre Dame scored four runs before junior righthander Rylee Michalak even entered the circle; and the future Houston Cougar did the rest in throwing a three-hitter with nine strikeouts, including the 400th of her illustrious career.
“That was the best feeling,” Michalak said of her milestone. “I knew going into it I was getting close so four straight strikeouts got the job done. I was so excited about it.”
By the time she got her 400th in the bottom of the second, ND already had a 5-0 lead. Emma Marchese’s two-run double and Michalak’s RBI single keyed the four-run first and an RBI double by Alayna Giampolo added insurance in the second. Bianca Pesce singled and scored on an error in the third and the Irish were well on their way.
“I know that this was a really talked-up game,” said leadoff hitter Ella McColgan, who had two hits and two runs scored, and sparked the Irish’s potent offense as usual. “I knew it was gonna be a big one. Being able to win, especially by the score we had, it was great.”
And it gave the Irish (10-0) a somewhat invincible feeling to know they had a sixrun lead with a pitcher on the mound who has allowed one earned run (four total) all season.
“It definitely took a weight off our shoulders,” McColgan said. “Coming into this game we were really hyped up. We were hyped up but we were calm and we were ready to compete with this team. Getting those four runs up, we had more freedom to do other things.”
And it gave Michalak the freedom to throw strikes against a Ravens team (9-2) that entered the game with a .611 slugging percentage.
“That takes such a weight off my shoulders, knowing that my lineup had my back, especially against a team like this,” the hurler said, echoing McColgan. “I had a feeling we were gonna put more on so I just was able to go out and throw as loose as I could and felt no pressure.”
Michalak had a good curve and rise ball during the day and mixed in a sneaky change-up to keep Robbinsville off-balance. Caroline Walls, who had two hits and made an excellent running catch in left field, got the Ravens first hit with a bunt single in the fourth. Katie Fowler singled and was the only runner to reach third for the hosts.
“She’s an incredible pitcher,” McColgan said. “I can’t even tell you how amazing it is and how awesome it is to play with her on the field.
ND coach Chris Jackson agreed, saying “When you’ve got Michalak on the mound with that lead; it’s nice. It was awesome to see her get her 400th strikeout. It’s awesome coaching a kid like that but we’ve got a whole roster full of kids like that. They want to be here, they want to play softball.”
Helen Woloshyn had two hits and scored twice for the Irish while Giampolo added two hits and two RBIs. Cara Mazzucco drove in a run and scored once. Ravens hurler Katie Zilani actually settled down after her rocky start, but ND took advantage of some seventh-inning errors to tack on two final runs.
Jackson was happy the way his team came to play against one the county’s top squads.
“That’s a quality team over there, we had a ton of respect for them coming in,” he said. “We knew they were playing good softball. We had to come here today and play our game.”
Which they did, to perfection.
“The top of the lineup’s getting on with the speed we have there,” Jackson said. “The middle of the lineup is hitting the ball and the bottom of the lineup did their job. Across the board they all do their job, they know their role and they played smart softball today. We moved runners when we needed to, we got timely hits when we needed them and we just played a complete game.
“Coming into the season we adopted a little saying we want to be all in, and they’re playing that way. It’s a privilege to coach this group and I couldn’t be happier with how they came here today and performed.”
It was simplistic. But lethal.