After a challenging eight-game stretch over spring break, the Irish head to Washington for three games against a young Georgetown program.
Senior infielder Alexa Maldonado said Georgetown (13-17), as new Big East rivals, will be good practice for the team to sharpen a few of their weaknesses.
"They are still a relatively new and developing program that recently joined the Big East," Maldonado said. "We should definitely beat them, but we can't go in thinking it will be easy. We need to look to approach every game the same way no matter who we are playing."
The games against Georgetown will mark the beginning of Big East conference play. The Irish (11-10) have won four of their last eight games and are experienced with playing multiple games in a short amount of time. Maldonado said the key to success would be keeping their energy up throughout the long weekend.
"The most challenging thing for this weekend will be to play consistently well for all three games," Maldonado said. "It is very important that we start off conference play with great softball, so we can roll into our next games."
Maldonado said throughout practice this week, the team has been focused on performing well under pressure situations. Many of the recent losses have been attributed to high-error rates, a tendency Notre Dame intends to have under control in the games this weekend.
"When game time comes around, there will be nothing thrown at us that we haven't already seen," Maldonado said.
As a senior leader, Maldonado said she wants to spend the weekend contributing and encouraging her team through her personal performance on and off the field. She also said she's expecting her fellow teammates to shine in Washington, especially the pitchers.
"I'm really expecting our pitching staff to step up and throw lights out," Maldonado said. "When they are on fire, it affects the demeanor and intensity of the whole team."
The Irish will begin their three-game weekend against Georgetown on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Contact Katie Heit at kheit@nd.edu
