Notre Dame pitcher Lucy Dillon spent her Tuesday evening dealing—or “Dilling”—and Beechwood couldn’t read the hand it was dealt.
Dillon pitched a complete game, allowing just one hit and one run (zero earned) while walking one and striking out 14 of the 25 batters she faced in a 12-1 district seeding win for the Pandas in Fort Mitchell.
For Dillon, it was just another night in a dominant stretch this season.
“Heck of a season,” Notre Dame head coach Mickie Terry-Snead said. “She’s very underrated and that’s how we like it. She comes out and does her job. She’s becoming a workhorse and her team believes in her.”
Dillon also helped the Pandas hold Beechwood to its second-lowest run total of the season.
The junior did not allow a hit or walk until the final inning. Of her 95 pitches, 67 were strikes.
It wasn’t a one-player show and Dillon was quick to credit her teammates.
“I think having a great catcher behind the plate helping me go through the pitches and the motion, just cheering me on and having my team support me got me through all the innings,” she said. “I play for my team and they have my back.”
Beechwood’s lone run came in the first inning when, with two outs, senior Taryn Frazier scored on a passed ball.
After the first six outs, Notre Dame Academy held a 2-1 lead, sparked by a Rosemary Kunkel two-run single.
Early on, the matchup had the feel of a breakthrough moment for the Tigers, who were trying to snap a long district skid against their rival. Notre Dame has now won 21 straight in the series, with Beechwood’s last victory coming in the 2012 district championship game.
Names and faces have changed, but the team name hasn’t.
“I thought we were ready today,” Beechwood head coach Chris Scott said. “Unfortunately, sometimes we’re not playing against their players, we’re playing against what’s on their jersey. They’ve capitalized on us for a long time, but we had a talk after and our girls are unsatisfied.”
The Tigers went 1-for-23 at the plate and committed six errors defensively.
Notre Dame answered with steady offense, scoring three runs in the second inning, four in the third, and one more in the fourth.
As Dillon emphasized, it was a full team effort.
Seven players recorded hits for the Pandas, including four multi-hit performances. Addison Zinser went 3-for-4 with a double, while Rosemary Kunkel drove in four runs. Brigid Zekl and Emily Krallman added two RBIs apiece.
“They can hit and that’s what wins ballgames,” Terry-Snead said. “You have to have a pitcher and you have to be able to hit. We’ve got a couple that are feeling stuck, so we’re moving things around and they’re doing awesome. They do the job that needs to be done.”
In the second inning, Sydney Sheely singled for a run, followed by Zinser’s double, with Zinser eventually coming around to score on a passed ball.
In the four-run third inning, Krallman, Sheely, and Zekl each drove in a run on three consecutive at-bats, and Dillon even contributed at the plate, scoring the ninth run.
Krallman added another RBI in the fourth and in the seventh inning Kunkel delivered a two-run single for the final runs of the game.
Beechwood’s Brooke Moore collected the Tigers’ lone hit in the final frame and despite a pair of runners reaching, Dillon closed the game with her final strikeout.
The Tigers saw a three-game win streak come to an end, falling to 7-7 on the season and opening district seeding play 0-1.
“We’re gonna see them in the finals and we’re gonna come out ready to play hard again,” Scott said. “This was just one of those days at the ballpark.”
Beechwood returns to action on the road against Batavia (OH) on Monday at 5 p.m.
The Pandas, now 5-3 overall and 2-0 in district play following a 17-0 five-inning win over Holmes, host Dixie Heights on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
MORE PHOTOS: Provided by Charles Bolton
PANDAS 12, TIGERS 1
NOTRE DAME — 234-100-2 — 12-13-1
BEECHWOOD — 100-000-0 — 1-1-6
RBI — (NDA) Kunkel 4, Krallman 2, Zekl 2, Dillon, Sheely, Zinser
2B — (NDA) Zinser
WP — Dillon. LP — Cento.
Records: Notre Dame 5-3, Beechwood 7-7