Notre Dame softball team beats Portageville

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. -- Not many pitchers can say they've taken on Portageville ace Taylor Tiffany on her home field and came out on top.

With the help of late inning heroics from her team's lineup, however, Notre Dame senior Haylie Santos did just that Tuesday.

Santos shook off a pair of solo home runs with the help of five late runs from her offense to down previously unbeaten Portageville 6-2.

"She's not as dominant as Taylor, and she knows that," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said about Santos. "She has to pitch to contact, rely on her defense and cut her walks down. I told her you're going to give up some home runs this year. We want to keep them solo shots, which they both were today. She did a great job overall."

Tiffany looked to have the upper hand early in the contest, retiring Notre Dame's first nine hitters in order with six strikeouts.

Tiffany's early dominance, coupled with a solo home run from Kelsi Miller in the bottom of the first inning, had Portageville (3-1) looking to win a pitcher's duel.

A leadoff single from Morgan Duschell in the top of fifth frame changed Notre Dame's luck. Duschell later scored from second base on a Madison Landeros double.

Another leadoff single, from Payton Friga, led to a two-run rally in the sixth that gave Notre Dame its first lead.

Christina Scherer laid down a slap-bunt single to bring in Friga from second base. Scherer later scored, beating a throw to the plate on a one-out bunt.

Bunting was something Notre Dame (3-0) did early and often against Tiffany with a slap-bunt or sacrifice hits playing a role in all three of their rallies.

"We haven't seen a whole lot of it this year, which we knew it was coming," Portageville coach Ashlie Patton said. "The girls have actually improved on it since last year. They've gotten better and we've gotten a quicker reaction time on it, and we got more outs on it today than we usually do."

A solo home run from Savannah Lovins in the home half of the sixth brought it back to a one-run game at 3-2, but Notre Dame provided three insurance runs for Santos in the seventh.

Lindsey Eftink led off the inning with a bunt single, and Anne Ziegler's single put runners on first and second with one out. A bloop single to left field by Duschell plated a run, and the damage was compounded when an overthrow to first base put runners on second and third.

An infield hit from Scherer brought home the second run of the inning, with an overthrow to third by Portageville's defense on the play bringing in another to make it 6-2.

"A 3-2 lead with their history of coming back, we had to get that cushion," Graviett said. "It was big to put up those runs."

Just as Graviett predicted, Portageville was primed for a comeback when a walk to Hannah Cook was followed by a two-out single from leadoff hitter Destiney Crossno.

Before any damage could be done, Santos coaxed a fly out to left field by Mikayla Rone to end the game.

Had Rone reached, the heart of the order was up next, including Miller, who already had a home run off Santos and Tiffany in the clean-up spot.

"You're one away from the tying run with a girl who had already had a home run, then Taylor in the hole," Graviett said. "It was about to get real interesting there, but we just kept our composure and got out of it."

Santos picked up the win with a complete game effort where she allowed two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five. Tiffany took the loss, allowing eight hits and fanning 13. She did not walk a batter.

With a strikeout specialist like Tiffany feasting on hitters who get too greedy, Portageville expects to see plenty more squads try small tactics such as Notre Dame's that focuses on contact and testing the defense.

"If you try to swing for the fences against a pitcher like her you're not going to make contact," Graviett said. "Her ball moves too much and it gets up on you too quick. You have to try to move it and make them make plays. That's what we did today. We got a couple big hits when we needed them and separated ourselves in the last inning."

At the plate, Notre Dame was led by Duschell and Scherer, who each had two hits.

Notre Dame 000 102 3 -- 6 8 0

Portageville 100 001 0 -- 2 6 2

WP -- Haylie Santos. LP -- Taylor Tiffany. Multiple hitters: (N) Morgan Duschell 2-4, Christina Scherer 2-4. 2B -- (N) Madison Landeros. HR -- (P) Kelsi Miller, Savannah Lovins.