Notre Dame softball team clobbers Naylor at home

One statistic stood out after the Notre Dame softball team opened its home schedule against Naylor on Thursday that told everything one needed to know about the outcome.

Notre Dame sent 14 batters to the plate in the first inning. Naylor sent 10 batters to the plate for the entire game.

That statistic, along with seven errors by the Eagles defense, played into a lopsided 15-0 victory for Notre Dame in a three-inning game that was halted due to the run rule.

A two-out single by pinch-hitter Abby Rollet that eluded the glove of diving center fielder Hannah Cunningham was the 14th hit of the day for the Bulldogs, who improved to 2-0 with their second win in as many days.

"With all the hard work this team has put in, it really shows when we step up to the plate," said winning pitcher Ellie Retz, who limited the Eagles to a pair of singles. "We're calm, relaxed and ready to go."

Notre Dame's Maddie Urhahn congratulantes Ellie Retz after striking out a Naylor batter in the first inning Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Retz pitched around a two-out single in the top of the first inning, then sat back and watched her teammates score 10 runs in the bottom of the frame.

The Bulldogs had nine hits and Naylor contributed four errors in the inning.

Christina Scherer commenced the rout with a one-out single to right field and came around to score when Madison Landeros and Maddie Urhahn followed with back-to-back singles. Landeros then scored on the first fielding error by Naylor, and left-handed batting Lindsey Elfrink followed with an infield single that scored Landeros.

Naylor junior pitcher Gracie Gargac then obtained a strikeout for the second out, but the floodgates opened with eight runs -- all unearned. Anne Ziegler, the No. 8 hitter, lined a two-run single down the third-base line for a 4-0 lead. Payton Friga, the Bulldogs' No. 9 hitter, then beat out a bunt single that Gargac belatedly flipped wildly past first as two more Bulldogs crossed home for a 6-0 advantage. Naylor committed its third error of the inning when Morgan Duschell's two-out pop up to the catcher was dropped in foul territory. Duschell, one of four left-handed batters in the lineup, made the Eagles pay when she legged out a slap grounder to shortstop for a 7-0 lead. A fielding error followed on the next batter, and Landeros and Urhahn, both right-handers, boomed back-to-back doubles to left field that went to the wall, scoring three more runs.

The 10 runs surpassed the Bulldogs' total in an 8-3 win against Chaffee. The Bulldogs had 12 hits in the win against the Red Devils.

Notre Dame's Ellie Retz pitches to a Naylor batter in the third inning Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Glenn Landberg)

"That's what it's going to be all season for us," said Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett, who lost three starters from last year's 20-8 team to graduation, including ace pitcher Nikki Peters. "We're going to throw four lefties out there and try to spread them out and try to put a lot of pressure on you, get them on base and let the righties drive them in. So far, two days now, it's worked pretty good -- to perfection. Just a lot of team speed and that is what we're going to utilize. It should be one of the better offenses we've had up here."

The Bulldogs had three infield hits in the first inning and four for the game. Duschell, who bats leadoff, had two of the hits on routine grounders to the left side.

"The first game is always the worst, but then it just comes out better," said Duschell, who said the Bulldogs were more relaxed Thursday after experiencing some opening-day jitters Wednesday.

Naylor appeared to be experiencing some of those jitters against the Bulldogs, who seemed to exacerbate the situation with their speed and aggressiveness on the basepaths.

Notre Dame, which Graviett said is the fastest team he's had from top to bottom in his 13 seasons, moved up on throws throughout the game.

'I thought fielding-wise that we would field the ball pretty good but they have a lot of speedy runners, which we may not have thrown them all out, but I thought we would field and cover bags better than we did," Naylor coach Gene Deckard said. "We did too much standing and letting them have extra bases, but Notre Dame is a good team and they put pressure on us, and we didn't respond."

Deckard graduated four starters from last year's Class 1 District 1 championship team that went 18-10.

"We need some young folks to step up, and once we figure out how hard we have to play, and the importance of things, I think we'll be all right," Deckard said. "But today may have been good for us. I hate to lose like this for it to do us any good, but definitely now when we go back to practice, we've got some ammunition."

Retz yielded a one-out single in the top of the second, but Urhahn, the Bulldogs' third baseman, started a 5-4-3 double play.

Notre Dame then sent nine batters to the plate in the second in adding four runs.

Duschell, Landeros, Urhahn, Elfrink and Anne Ziegler all finished with two hits.

"We look at it like a 1 through 5 and a 1 through 4," Graviett said. "It's like you're turning another new lineup all over, and that's the confidence I have in the right-handers at the bottom of the order. We have 16 girls on the team, and 16 can hit. It's just finding that mixture of girls at the right time."

Notre Dame's offense will get a test in its next game when it visits Portageville, a Class 2 semifinalist last year. Portageville features senior hurler Taylor Tiffany, who fanned 20 Jackson batters Tuesday and holds the state record for strikeouts in a single season.

Naylor 000 -- 0 2 7

Notre Dame (10)41 -- 15 14 0

WP -- Ellie Retz (1-0). LP -- Gracie Gargac (0-1). 2B -- Madison Landeros (ND), Maddie Urhahn (ND). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Morgan Duschell 2-4, Landeros 2-3, Urhahn 2-2, Lindsey Elfrink 2-2, Anne Ziegler 2-3.