By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Liberty pitcher Amber Wellman kept the Quincy Notre Dame softball team scoreless for seven innings.

That's what made it so difficult for her coach, Michelle Quinn, to pull the junior in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Quinn feared the Lady Raiders might duplicate what her squad accomplished in the top of the inning, when it scored seven runs en route to a 7-2 win in eight innings at The Backyard.

Or that her team might squander a last-inning lead for the third time this season.

"In that last inning, when those batters have seen the pitcher two and three times, things start to turn around," Quinn said.

QND pitcher Emily McCaughey (2-1) struck out six Liberty batters and surrendered a harmless fifth-inning hit in the first seven innings.

But in the top of the eighth, every Eagle (3-4) put the ball in play and QND's fielders couldn't convert routine plays -- committing three of their five errors in Liberty's seven-run eighth inning.

"Unfortunately we wasted an extraordinary performance by our pitcher, Emily McCaughey, and combined that with the pathetic performance by the rest of our team," QND coach Eric Orne said. "I was really disappointed in our effort. In fact, I told the team after the game I was embarrassed."

Liberty sent 11 hitters to the plate in the top of the eighth. Amanda Bower led the inning off by reaching third on a throwing error. Eight batters and seven runs later, she made the second out of the inning. Ashley Huddleston and Lucy Cramsey each hit two-run singles in the inning.

"With these girls that's exactly what it is," Quinn said. "As soon as somebody gets on they see that, that other people do make mistakes and everything turns around for them."

Back in the first inning, it seemed likely QND (4-1) would get on the scoreboard first.

Lady Raiders shortstop Elise Obert, who went 2 for 4 with two doubles, led the bottom of the first off with a double.

But Wellman (1-1) kept her composure against QND's toughest hitters -- forcing Amanda Darnell to ground out and striking out Karlee Gengenbacher and clean-up hitter Renita Bunte.

"This is actually a very big win," Quinn said. "This will be a very big confidence booster for these girls. I noticed at the beginning of the season they had very little confidence. Playing a team of this caliber with a win is going to do great for them."

Notes: McCaughey went 2 for 3 with a run scored. ... QND left eight runners on base and Liberty only stranded four. ... Liberty senior Rachelle Barry relieved Wellman and inherited runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth with no outs. The two earned runs were charged to Wellman. ... Barry struckout Kelsey Ley to end the game with the bases loaded. ... McCaughey pitched all eight innings for QND.

-- mgoldberg@whig.com/221-3367