PORTSMOUTH — Late inning offensive production and a no-hitter in the circle by Notre Dame junior Gwen Sparks lifted the Lady Titans to a 10-0 win over Symmes Valley in their Southern Ohio Conference Divsion I opener on Wednesday.

Five different Lady Titans reached via hit, including Sparks who finished with three hits — one of which was a home run — to go with her dominant day pitching.

Junior Kyndall Ford, sophomore Bree Hicks, and Sparks all drove in two runs apiece, while senior Libby Kelly, sophomore Kaylyn Darden, and freshman Maycee Ford all had an RBI in the victory.

Leading the Lady Vikings 5-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, five ND runs in their final frame ended the game in six complete.

“Hitting’s contagious,” Notre Dame coach Shad Ford said. “It took us a couple of innings, but once we got going through the lineup a second time, we put a couple on the board. Gwen’s big homer, that always gets the team excited and that helped motivate everyone at the plate.”

Sparks struck out 10 and walked two for her second victory of the season — after a 5-1 win over Wahama (W.Va.) in a non-league contest on Monday.

The ND defense committed just one error in the field that resulted in a Symmes Valley base runner.

“Anytime you can have a no hitter, that’s great. Our defense showed up tonight. They put some balls in plays, our defense reacted well to and was quick on their toes. Gwen spun it well tonight, really kept them off balance.”

Notre Dame earned a 4-0 win at Clay on Thursday in another SOC I contest.

They’ll travel to Western on Friday and face Logan and Sheridan in a twin-bill of non-league contests Saturday, April 1.

“We’ve played some pretty good opponents early. First goal is the SOC and Symmes is definitely one of the top teams in the league. It’s one game at a time, try and finish against Clay tomorrow.”

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BOX SCORE

Symmes Valley 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 3

Notre Dame 1 0 0 4 0 5 — 10 9 1

W — Gwen Sparks (ND) 6IP, 0H, 2BB, 10K, 0ER;

Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved