After a very successful spring season, the Fightin’ Irish head to the ACC Tournament as the fifth seed. The Fightin’ Irish finished with an overall record of 31-12, 20-10 in the ACC and ended the regular season on a 14 game winning streak. The Irish were 15-0 at home an 11-10 on the road, 3-2 at a neutral site. The undefeated home record was the third in team history. They also went undefeated at home with a record of 18-0 in 2001, 2010 19-0. Head Coach Deanna Gumpf coached her twentieth season for the Fightin’ Irish with an overall record of 783-333-1 record.
Notable Players
Batters
Abby Sweet-#26 SR Outfield-First Team ACC Selection: Batting Average .466, led the conference in doubles with (16), ranked (11th) in the NCAA Top 20 for batting, doubles (9th), On Base Percentage (OBP) (18th, .557). Sweet has been named a Top 25 Finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year.
Emma Clark-#15 JR Outfield-Second Team ACC Selection: Currently 6th in average (.410), seventh in total hits (55) and ranks fifth in ACC stolen bases (23), including four stolen bases in one game that matches a single-game program record. Clark joins Ruth Kmak in the Irish history books.
Karina Gaskins-#32 FR Infield-Second Team ACC Selection-All Freshman Team: Ranked tenth in the ACC in home runs in which she led the Irish with (10) home runs, ranked ninth in the ACC with a slugging percentage of (.693), and Gaskins ranks third for her RBI average of (.95 per game).
Pitchers
Payton Tidd-#14 JR-Third Team ACC Selection: 15-5 record for the season. Tidd ranks ninth in the ACC for ERA (2.18), and led the Irish with 112 innings pitched, nine complete games and was part of four shutouts, with one of those games being a complete game shutout. Tidd joined teammates Alexis Holloway and Morgan Ryan for two combined no-hitters this season.
Alexis Holloway-#24 SR– Third Team ACC Selection: 13-6 record this season. Holloway ranked eighth in strikeouts with (104), ranked ninth in hits allowed per seven innings with (5.39). Holloway pitched 11 complete games, with two individual shutouts and one combined shutout.
Tournament Information
The ACC Tournament officially kicked off on May 12th and will finish with the ACC Championship game on May 15th. All games will take place in Louisville, Kentucky at Don Dobina Field at Ulmer Stadium.
Games
Thursday, May 13, 1:30 p.m. ET: ACC Quarterfinals vs. No.20/20 Virginia Tech
Friday, May 14, 1 p.m. ET: ACC Semifinals
Saturday, May 15, 12 p.m. ET ACC Championship
ESPN
Cheers and Go Irish! ☘🥎🌩