Feb. 15, 2002

TUCSON--Megan Ciolli's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th gave Notre Dame a 3-2 victory over Auburn in the final Friday game of the Pepsi Arizona Softball Classic.

Auburn lost its first game of the year and dropped to 9-1. Notre Dame improved to 1-1.

Tie-breakerRules placed runner Alexis Madrid on second base. A sacrifice bunt by Jenny Kriech moved her to third and Ciolli lofted a fly to left deep enough for Madrid to easily beat the throw to the plate.

The Irish had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but Adrian Bledsoe grounded out to end the threat. In the bottom of the ninth, Sara Dean's two-run single staked Auburn to a first-inning lead, but the Tigers couldn't get much going after that against Notre Dame starter Carrie Wisen and reliever Steffany Stenglein, collecting three more hits from the second through eighth innings.

Auburn pitcher Jen Lofton threw shutout ball for four innings until Notre Dame scratched out a run with a walk an an infield single in the fifth. Lisa Mattison walked and pinch runner Kas Hoag moved up on a ground-out. With two outs, Alexis Madrid beat out a throw on a chop single and Hoag scored from second.

Andrea Loman's one-out solo home run in the bottom of the sixth greeted Auburn reliever Kristin Keyes to tie the game at two apiece, wrecking Keyes bid for a save and Lofton's chance at the victory.