SOUTH BEND, IND.  The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, ranked No. 11 in the nation, swept a doubleheader from the St. Johns University Red Storm Saturday afternoon in the BIG EAST opener for both teams. Notre Dame won the first game 8-0 in five innings, and edged the Red Storm 1-0 in the second game. Notre Dame improved to 24-3 overall and 2-0 in the BIG EAST, while Red Storm fall to 13-18 overall and 0-2 in the league.

In the first game, pitcher Jennifer Sharron pitched her first-career no hitter for the Irish for her 12th win of the season. Sharron struck out 11 Red Storm batters and allowed just four base runners (two reached on errors and Sharron hit two batters). The Irish struck early on the offensive end, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Jenny Kriech led off the game for the Irish with a triple to left field, and came around to score on a sac fly by Alexis Madrid. After back-to-back walks to Melanie Alkire and Jarrah Myers, Lizzy Lemire ripped a two-run double to left but was cut down at third on the relay from left fielder Lauren Fisher to shortstop to Tiffany Howerton to third baseman Jessica Shepherd.

The Irish broke the game open with a four-run third inning. Notre Dame batted around, scoring four runs on six hits to assume a 7-0 lead. ND tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homerun by Alkire. Senior Gina Calabrese, not throwing at 100% due to a slight back injury, took the loss for the Red Storm. Her record now stands at 8-8. In the second game, sophomore Courtney Fitzgerald tossed a brilliant game, allowing just one run while scattering seven hits. Fitzgerald was able to pitch her way out of several jams in the later innings. In the bottom of the fourth, no score, Fitzgerald walked Alkire and gave up a single to Myers with only one out. But the Red Storm ended the threat by getting Lemire to pop up to short before Andrea Loman struck out on three pitches.

Then in the fifth with one out, still no score, Fitzgerald gave up back-to-back singles to Kas Hoag and Danielle Klayman. Fitzgerald got leadoff batter Kriech to fly out to left and retired Madrid on a comebacker to kill another Irish rally. Cecelia Baston, who started the game in right field, got the first hit of the day for the Red Storm when she lined a single to centerfield to lead off the top of the sixth. She was stranded at first though as the next three batters were retired in order.

The Irish found some holes in the bottom of the sixth, as Alkire and Lemire led off the inning with back-to-back doubles, resulting in a 1-0 lead for Notre Dame. The Red Storm defense prevented the Irish from scoring any further, getting Lemire to line out to second for the first out of the inning. Then Loman singled to center and advancved to second on the throw. But Dima got the ball in quickly to the infield, forcing Myers to hold up at third. Bledsoe then hit a line drive grounder to third, which was scooped up by Shepherd who fired home to nail Myers at the plate. Hoag grounded out to second to end the inning.

The Red Storms final opportunity to score came in the top of the seventh. Second baseman Alesha Argeras led off the inning with a double to the left-field fence. First baseman Ann Raab then laid down a sacrifice bunt up the first base line to try and advance Argeras to third. First baseman Loman fielded the ball and fired to third. Argeras slid head first into the bag and tried to avoid the tag, but her hand slipped off the bag and she was tagged out by the shortstop Alkire. With one out and Raab on first, Howerton stepped to the plate representing the winning run. Howerton lined a shot to third base, which was stabbed by the third baseman. She then fired across the diamond to nail Raab at first for the final out of the game.

Fitzgerald took the loss for the Red Storm, as she falls to 5-9 overall on the season. She struck out two and walked two.

The Red Storm return to action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. to take on BIG EAST rival Pittsburgh. The doubleheader is slated for 11:00 a.m.