Notre Dame shuts out Central

Schnurbusch and Burger kept the Tigers off the scoreboard, while two freshmen made an impact with their speed.

Notre Dame showed off its team speed and veteran pitching in a 6-0 romp against visiting Central on Wednesday.

In their season opener, the Bulldogs had five bunt singles, including two from freshman Erika Reinagel. Fellow freshman Paris Burger also had a bunt single and swiped a pair of bases.

"Erika and Paris, they're both natural lefties so that makes it easier," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said of his freshmen's bunting prowess. "Both do a good job slapping the ball, too. With their speed, they're going to be tough to get out on a consistent basis."

The first run of the game came home on a bases-loaded RBI bunt single by Heather Menz in the bottom of the first. Allison Peters drove in two more as Notre Dame took a 3-0 lead after one inning.

The Tigers, coming off a 7-4 victory over Perryville in their opener Monday, had to use two pitchers in the first inning. Starting pitcher Callie Hoffman lasted just four batters after struggling with location and was replaced by Monday's starter, Kelsy Holloway.

"We were not ready to play ball today, and you can't do that against a good team," Central coach Amy Blattel said.

Three runs was more than enough for Notre Dame starter Beth Schnurbusch, who allowed two hits in the first but only an infield single over the next four innings. In five innings, Schnurbusch struck out three, allowed three hits and did not walk a batter.

Notre Dame has all three of its top pitchers back from last year, which also includes Kristain Burger and Miranda Schlosser.

"You get your pitchers back, that's always a plus," Graviett said.

An RBI double by Kristain Burger in the second inning brought in the third pitcher of the day for the Tigers. Sophomore pitcher Sirena Watkins made her pitching debut this fall and settled the Tigers down.

Besides a four-hit fourth for the Bulldogs, Watkins was able to shut down Notre Dame for the most part. She pitched the final 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits and two walks.

"She came out ready," Blattel said. "I thought she hit spots, which is very important. Notre Dame's pitching staff did a very good job hitting locations."

Kristain Burger led the Bulldogs' offense with three hits and also came on to pitch the final two innings. Menz added two hits for Notre Dame, which had 13 in all.

"Burger came out and had a great day with three hits," Graviett said. "We had a big hit-and-run where Miranda hit the gap in a situation where they were thinking bunt."

Coming off its first state final four appearance last season, the Bulldogs have just one senior on their roster and started two freshmen and two sophomores in the opener. Notre Dame will be back in action on Friday at home against Perryville.

"I was really pleased with the effort today," Graviett said.

Central finished with just six hits and dropped to 1-1. Bethany Sweet had two hits for the Tigers. The Tigers have a day off before heading to Chaffee on Friday.

Blattel said Wednesday's effort may have been a little disappointing, but it is not something to panic about.

"If this happened the last week of the season I'd be worried," she said, "but these things are definitely fixable."

Notre Dame 6, Central 0

Central 000 000 0 -- 0 6 1

Perryville 310 200 X -- 6 13 0

WP -- Beth Schnurbusch, 1-0. LP -- Callie Hoffman, 0-1. 2B -- Kristain Burger (N). Multiple hits -- Central, Bethany Sweet 2-3; Notre Dame, Burger 3-4; Heather Menz 2-2; Erika Reinagel 2-4. Records -- Notre Dame 1-0, Central 1-1.