Notre Dame softball team's hot start burns Central

The Central defense didn't do much wrong in the first inning of its home game against the Notre Dame softball team Tuesday.

Yet the Bulldogs scored six times without a ball Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett would classify as hard hit and without an extra-base hit in their 11-3 victory.

"It feels good to jump on them and get ahead," Notre Dame first baseman Brandi Glastetter said. "We're always told that the first team to score usually wins the game, so it really pushes us from the beginning to get ahead from the start."

Brianne Sanders led off the game with an infield single, Hali Rendleman walked and Summer Burger followed with another infield hit before Glastetter slapped a ball past Central's drawn-in infield for a two-RBI single to start the scoring.

"We had a couple of miscues in the first inning, and any time you open the door against a good, solid team, that's tough," Central coach Amy Blattel said. "They had the bases loaded [and] the deepest ball they hit was to our right fielder in that inning."

Notre Dame's Jessica Menz hits an RBI single against Central during the second inning Tuesday. (Kristin Eberts)

The miscues weren't errors, but they prevented the Tigers from recording outs against a Notre Dame offense that executed almost flawlessly.

"It's pretty tough," Graviett said when asked if a defense could have prevented his players from reaching base. "We've had quite a few first innings like that. It's just a lot of team speed, and we've got a lot of pop in the middle. It's a tough combination, and if we get it going, it's been impressive at times this year.

"You talk about six runs in this type of game, we'll take it every time. We've had a couple 10-run innings, but really I don't know that it can get a whole lot better. We really didn't hit any balls that hard. It was just good placement that first inning of balls and coming up with a lot of good at-bats and putting runs up against a good pitcher."

Notre Dame added single runs in the second and third innings then scored three times in the sixth.

"I don't think defenses can stop our offense," said Burger, who scored three times and had two hits. "Right now we're so powerful, we're quick, we can bunt. We have all of the tools, so it'll take a really good defensive team to shut us out."

Central's Tat Reagan makes a catch during the seventh inning Tuesday.

Burger took over in the circle for Notre Dame ace Katie Bond in the fourth inning.

Bond, who has tendinitis in her leg, allowed one run on one hit -- an RBI double by Kadie Orenstein -- in three innings.

"It wasn't hurting bad enough to come out, but with a week off and you're getting close to postseason, it made sense to make the switch," Graviett said. "She was fine. She could have continued. We just made the decision to get her out and give her the rest of the week off probably."

Central scored two unearned runs with the help of two Notre Dame errors in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bulldogs' only miscues of the game.

"You know when you switch from Katie to Summer, you're going to get a lot more action," Graviett said. "Summer's not the strikeout pitcher Katie is. Also, you take the shortstop off the field. We made two errors in crucial spots today, but we need those type of situations to make us better toward the end."

Central put its first two batters on in the fifth inning, but the Notre Dame defense retired the next two batters on hard-hit line drives.

"They've got a good defensive team," Blattel said. "We hit the ball solid and there's nothing more that I can ask for our kids to do. They were two very well-hit balls, and they just made defensive plays."

Notre Dame improved to 21-0.

"We're playing real well right now," Graviett said. "That's where we want to be. We've got some big games coming up against some quality teams, so we just want to keep pushing ourselves. We try to make little short-term goals every game and try to pretend it's a one- or two-run game as much as we can."

Notre Dame 611 003 0 -- 11 13 2

Central 001 200 0 -- 3 4 2

WP -- Katie Bond. LP -- Kadie Orenstein. 2B -- Brandi Glastetter (ND), Orenstein (C), Sarah Kitchen (C). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Brianne Sanders 2-4, Summer Burger 2-4, Glastetter 2-3, Jessica Menz 2-3. Records -- Notre Dame 21-0.