Softball Game Preview: Peoria Notre Dame Irish vs. Limestone Rockets

The Peoria Notre Dame Irish will square off against the Limestone Rockets at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Peoria Notre Dame made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Eureka, but they still couldn't quite topple them. The Irish were the clear victors by an 11-3 margin over the Hornets on Tuesday. The matchup marked the Irish's most dominant win of the season so far.

Lexie Dallinger-Eaker spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and one unearned) runs on nine hits and racked up eight Ks. Those eight strikeouts set a new season-high mark for her.

Lauren Leustek

Hits (Career)

04/01/25 vs Eureka	4
03/24/25 vs Brimfield	3
05/11/24 vs Danville	3
05/13/24 vs Eureka	2
05/09/24 vs Richwoods	2

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Lauren Leustek, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 4-for-4. Those four hits gave her a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Ella Tady, who went 2-for-4 with four RBI and one double.

Peoria Notre Dame was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Limestone). They blew past Richwoods 17-6 on Tuesday. The Rockets haven't had any issues with the Knights recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive victory against them.

BRIANNA BIRKETT was a standout: she went 1-for-4 with six RBI, one triple, and one run. Those RBI marked the first that she brought in this season. ALLISON MEHN was another key player, scoring three runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances.

The win got Limestone back to even at 3-3. As for Peoria Notre Dame, the victory also got them back to even at 3-3.

Peoria Notre Dame beat Limestone 6-2 when the teams last played back in March of 2019. Will the Irish repeat their success, or do the Rockets have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.