SOUTH BEND, Ind.  – The Eastern Michigan University softball team was upended by the University of Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish swept both ends of a doubleheader, 9-0 and 9-3, and celebrated a successful home-opener at Melissa Cook Stadium Tuesday, March 23.

The result drops the Eagles to 6-13 on the season while Notre Dame improves to 19-5 and winners of 18 of their last 19 games.

Eastern Michigan has dropped four straight games, all of which have come against top-notch competition in Northwestern, No. 3 Missouri and now Notre Dame in the span of five days. After getting shut out in game one, the Eagles were able to muster some offense in game two, taking a short-lived lead before the Irish offense showed its true colors.

In game two, the Eagles secured the game’s first lead after loading the bases and doing so without needing a base hit. Freshman Nellie Coquillard strode to the plate with two outs and a chance to do some damage.

The first-year second baseman, making her 17th start of the season, came through with the biggest two-run single of her early career. It was the first hit of the game for the Eagles and scored Lauren Delapaz and Jessica Richards on the play.

It was a rare early lead for junior right-hander Jaclyn Caro, one that has been hard to come by for Eagle pitchers as of late. Caro, making just her fourth start of the season in the wake of offseason surgery wasn’t able to hold down the high-powered Notre Dame offense, however, as the Irish responded in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run double by Sadie Pitzenberger to tie it, leading to a four-run frame for the Irish.

The first inning would be the only frame that Notre Dame would fail to score in as they went on to a 9-3 victory. In light of the defeat, the Eagles top four hitters, beginning with Coquillard in the lead-off spot, went 5-for-13 against Irish pitching in the tail-end of the double dip.

Stacie Skodinski, a native of South Bend making her return trip home, went 3-for-5 on the day including a 2-for-3 effort in game two to raise her batting average to a team-high .408 this year. Freshmen Coquillard and Jenna Ignowski, of nearby Niles, also enjoyed somewhat of a homecoming. Coquillard had the big two-run single in the first inning of game two while Ignowski pitched the final 3.2 innings of game one.

Another bright spot for the Green and White was an encouraging performance by Caro in game two. The junior, who emerged as the team’s ace in 2009, allowed nine runs on 10 hits while striking out three and walking six, but nonetheless, went the distance for the first time this season.

For the Irish, Jody Valdivia moved to 14-2 by pitching a four-hit shutout in game one, her seventh shutout this year. Britta O’Donnell is 5-1 after getting the win in game two.

The Eagles are off until Tuesday, March 30, when they will travel to East Lansing for a mid-week showdown with Michigan State.

It will be a single game beginning at 4 p.m.

EMU will play its home opener the next day, Wednesday, March 31, with a doubleheader against Detroit-Mercy at Varsity Field at 3 p.m.