Irish fall to UC Santa Barbara and Cal.

March 12, 1999

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Notre Dame softball team committed nine errors in 13 innings in the field and lost 6-2 to UC Santa Barbara and 4-0 to California on the opening day of the National Invitational Softball Tournament in San Jose, Calif. The Irish were slated to play North Carolina in late game Friday night before beginning pool play on Saturday. Notre Dame falls to 9-9 with the losses.

Notre Dame led 2-0 after the top of the fourth inning in the first game but UC Santa Barbara scored three unearned runs both in the fifth and sixth innings thanks to five Irish errors. Jennifer Sharron took the loss for Notre Dame to fall to 5-5 despite not allowing an earned run. Kathleen Hoag doubled and scored on a single by Danielle Klayman in the third, and Lizzy Lemire smacked a solo home run in the fourth for Notre Dame's runs.

In the second game the Irish outhit the Golden Bears 7-5 but four Notre Dame errors helped Cal score a single run in the second, two runs in the sixth and one run in the seventh inning. Angela Bessolo took the loss as she went the distance on the mound to fall to 4-3.