Softball Team Represents in Athletic Dept. Pediatric Christmas Party

The Softball Team is highlighted on the cover of the ND.EDU website with the recent Pediatric Christmas Party that the Athletic Department holds. Check out the girls on the cover of nd.edu or the video highlighting the party by Clicking Here!

Irish Softball Halloween Community Service

The Irish Softball team visited McCoy's Creek Trails in Michigan this past Halloween. The girls spread out along the creek trail and passed out candy to the little kiddies and their parents. The community service event was an absolute hit amongst the little kids and the girls. Rumor even has it that organizers of the event had to go buy more candy because our softball players were spoiling the kids a little too much. Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Orphans Can Dream Too Feature on und.com!

Check out the feature on Andrea Loman and her Orphan's Can Dream Too Organization on our website at http://www.und.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/102909aab.html

Alumni Weekend is Here!

Softball Alumni Weekend is Here! Below are a listing of events for the weekend:

FRIDAY:
6:00pm - Rally on the Green Pep Rally
7:00pm - Hangout at Lizzy Lemire's House

SATURDAY:
9:30am - Alumni Slowpitch Game with Current Irish Team
*Game might change if the weather is too cold...keep you posted!
11:00am - Alumni Tailgate at Melissa Cook Stadium
3:30pm - Kickoff vs. Boston College
7:00pm - Monogram Club Mass with Coach Boulac (optional)
7:30pm - Coach Brian Boulac's Retirement Reception
(Heavy Hors Devours and Drinks)

Please RSVP To Lizzy at elemire@nd.edu if you will be attending the Pep Rally, Friday Night, Slow Pitch Game or Alumni Tailgate. I will then send you an itinerary and directions to everything.

See you This Weekend...GO IRISH!!

Brian Boulac to Retire after 40 Years of Work at Notre Dame

Brian Boulac came to the University of Notre Dame in 1959 and has not looked back since! After playing football, earning a bachelor's degree, earning a master's degree, coaching football, winning a national championship, helping jumpstart softball and working as an administrator in the Athletic department, Coach Boulac has announced his retirement from the University.

Words cannot describe what Brian has meant to our softball program and many of our softball players. He helped bring the softball program to Varsity Status and worked diligently with Joe Speybroeck and Liz Miller to recruit with minimal scholarships and build a softball field.

My personal favorite story of Brian Boulac was when he accepted the James E. Armstrong Award for Distinguished Service to the University in 2006. When giving his acceptance speech he told stories of both coaching football and softball. I believe the direct quote was something like this: "Of all my years of coaching, there is one truth I know. I would much rather coach and deal with 85 men rathern than 9 women any day of the week!". He really did love us at heart!!!

More info on Coach Boulac's retirement can be found on our website at:

http://www.und.com/genrel/082609aac.html

Please feel free to comment on this post and share any of your Coach Boulac stories!!!

Football Season Pep Rallies

Due to construction at the Joyce Center, the look and location of Pep Rallies will be different this football season. The Joyce Center south dome has been completely shut down since graduation and an entire gutting is taking place. The newly renovated arena is slated to open mid-october.

Looks like our Alumni Weekend (Boston College Weekend) Pep Rally will not be in the Joyce Center. Let me know if you still are interested in tickets!

Below is the information on each Pep Rally:

NEVADA - The traditional season-opening Dillon Hall Pep Rally (usually held Thursday before the game) will be moved to 6:30pm on Friday, September 4th. Head Coach Charlie Weis, the team and the Band will be in attendance.

MICHIGAN STATE - Rally will be held outdoors in the new hospitality village at the Irish Green (south of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center) at 6:30pm. No Football Team or Band will be in attendance.

WASHINGTON - Rally will be held outdoors in the new hospitality village at the Irish Green (south of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center) at 6:30pm. No Football Team or Band will be in attendance.

USC - 6:30pm - Location TBD - Possibly the Stadium. Head Coach Charlie Weis, the football team and the Band will be in attendance.

BOSTON COLLEGE - Rally will be held outdoors in the new hospitality village at the Irish Green (south of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center) at 6:30pm. No Football Team or Band will be in attendance.

NAVY - Rally will be held outdoors in the new hospitality village at the Irish Green (south of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center) at 6:30pm. No Football Team or Band will be in attendance.

UCONN - Pep Rally will be held in the new Purcell Pavilion - the newly renovated basketball arena at 6:30pm. Head Coach Charlie Weis, the football team and the Band will be in attendance.

Campus Construction Update - Alumni Stadium

The new home of Men's and Women's Soccer is almost finished!! With completion within a month away, the new stadium dedicated soley to Men's and Women's Soccer will open this fall. Alumni Stadium is a $5.7 million dollar project and will include a new natural grass field, new locker rooms, new bathrooms and concessions. The stadium is located in the heart of the athletic side of campus just east of the Joyce Center (located where the old hospitality tents used to be for football tailgating).

East of Alumni Staidum will be Arlotta Stadium, the new facility for men's and women's lacrosse. Arlotta stadium looks like it is about a month or two behind construction schedule from Alumni Stadium but shoult be finished shortly. The stadium is almost identical in look to Alumni Stadium. Also included at Arlotta will be a artifical field turf playing surface, locker rooms, filming rooms, concessions/restrooms and a grass berm for seating on the opposite side of the stands and home benches.

Check out some pictures of Alumni Stadium and Arlotta Stadium!!

Main Entrance of Alumni Stadium

A somewhat obstructed view of the grass soccer field and Arlotta Stadium just East of Alumni Stadium.

Side View of Alumni Stadium. If you look closely you can also see the new football stairway towers (for filming) they put up at the football practice facility.

Another View of the Natural Grass Field and Home/Visiting Team bench at Alumni Stadium. Home and Visiting bench will sit oppostie of the stands.

Side view of Alumni Staidum.

Orphan's Can Dream Too!

Alumni, Family & Friends -

Please keep Irish Softball Alum Andrea Loman in your thoughts and prayers. Dre will be traveling over to Kenya the second week of August with her Non-Profit Organization "Orphans Can Dream Too". Her travel will be to unfamiliar territory outside of the area she previously has been. First order of business is obtaining a student visa for Steven Owegi to come to the United States and attend Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Dre will also be trying to get another orphan a birth certificate and a passport.

More information on Orphans Can Dream Too can be found by visiting the website http://www.orphanscandreamtoo.org/

We wish you the best of luck Dre and we will be lighting many candles at the Grotto for a very safe and healthy visit!!

Thanks to all of those Alumni who have responded and are coming to Irish Softball Alumni Weekend - 2009! We have a GREAT turnout this year, in fact we have enough to play an Alumni Game!! So pack your glove!!

The Tailgate will be on Saturday at Melissa Cook Stadium. This is our new tailgate location and is great because we have indoor & outdoor access if its raining or snowing. Also, all of your little ones can run free on the softball field and you don't have to worry about them.

Please let me know your travel plans on Friday and what time you will arrive on campus so I can plan the slow-pitch game. Also let me know if you need football or pep rally tickets. I only have about 6 tickets left for the football game.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23RD
Slow Pitch Alumni Softball Game vs. Current Irish Team & Home Run Derby
Pep-Rally (ask Lizzy for ticket requests)
Post-Pep Rally Bonfire/Party

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24TH
Tailgate at Melissa Cook Stadium
Football Game vs. Boston College (only a few football tickets left!!)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25th
Breakfast/Brunch & Goodbyes

Campus Construction Updates...Part 2

Joyce Center Addition

Following the Commencement Address by President Barack Obama, the Joyce Center South Dome (Basketball Arena) was shut down temporarily until October for the renovation of the basketball arena and addition of Purcell Pavilion outside the building. The project includes:

• New, blue chair-back seating from top to bottom of the arena, including all-new upper-arena sections. All seating will be replaced in the lower bowl (including platform seats), and the wooden bleachers in the upper bowl will be removed and replaced with treads and risers and permanent arena seats. The exchange of the bleacher sections for chair back seats will change the capacity from the current 11,418 to approximately 9,800.

• A stadium club/hospitality area (approximately 16,500 square feet) in the south end of the arena, with a separate, private entry and with premium club seating for nearly 800 fans (that figure is part of the projected 9,800 capacity). Included in this area will be food service and restroom facilities.

• New fixed concession areas, increased numbers of women's restrooms and increased handicapped seating options.

Completion Date is October 10th, 2009.

The Building was originally opened in December 1968 as the Athletic and Convocation Center (ACC). The facility was renamed in 1987 after longtime University Executive Vice President Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C.

pictures taken - 5/27/09

Campus Construction Update....Vol. I

A lot of people have asked about all of the campus construction, so I thought I would post some updates throughout the summer with some pictures. It is amazing how much campus changes each year and transforms Notre Dame into a Bigger and Bolder Campus. The core of campus is still the same, but the exterior keeps growing. Most of you would not even recognize it if you have not been back in several years!

Today's Update: Eddy Street Commons

Eddy Commons is the construction project just south of campus that starts at Eddy Street and extends all along Angela Blvd. (Towards Melissa Cook Stadium). It is the "College Town" that we have been wanting for years!

Construction includes 94,000 square ft. of retail space, 266 Apartments, 49 Condo's, 20 Courtyard Townhomes, 60 Flats, 62 City Homes, 54 Hotel Condos, 255 Full Service Hotel Rooms, 139 Limited Service Hotel Rooms and 75,000 square ft. of office space!

Some of the retail space includes an Irish Pub, Oyster House, Pizza Place and a Chipotle. Information can be found at: http://kiterealty.com/documents/property_pdfs/EDDY_STREET_FACT_SHEET.pdf

To learn more about Eddy Commons and see video, check out their website! http://www.eddycommons.com/index.cfm

Win a Dream Weekend at Notre Dame!

Do you want the chance to attend a Notre Dame Football Game this Fall?

The Melissa Cook Foundation will be holding a raffle this summer and the winner will have a chance to win a Dream Weekend at Notre Dame. Any donation made to the Melissa Cook Foundation will automatically enter you in the Raffle. Suggested donations start at $25. If you donate $100 you will be entered into the raffle 4 times. The drawing will be held on September 1st, 2009.

Prize Includes:
2 Tickets/Press Box Passes to the Notre Dame vs. Boston College Football Game
1 Parking Pass to the Game
2 Nights Stay at the Downtown Holiday Inn
1 Gift Certificate to Dinner at the Inn

Make Donation online or Write & Send Donation to: Decline to Make Donation Fundraiser Entry Form, P.O. Box 426 Arlington Heights, IL 60006

Information can be found by visiting www.melissacook.org

GRADUATED!!!

The Irish Softball Alumni Family would like to formally welcome Brittney Bargar, Christine Farrell, Linda Kohan, Stephanie Mola and Beth Northway to the real world. A private commencement ceremony was held today in the Joyce Center due to the Irish missing the University's regular ceremony held on Sunday, May 17th. There may have been no Barack Obama...but there was more love in the room with coaches, teammates, family, friends and athletic department staff members all present to show their love and support to the Class of 2009.

ND in Our Nation's Capital

We returned to Washington, DC this past week to finish a "haulted game" with Georgetown. The game was previously suspended due to rain delays and flight arrangements on March 28th. After a 8-2 Victory, we had a couple of hours to take a driving tour of all the sights. It was a blast to say the least!

Irish Softball Supports Breast Cancer!

On Sunday, April 26th the Irish Softball Team joined the battle against Breast Cancer as we wore Pink Uniforms agains the Syracuse Orange. Throughout the games the girl's jerseys were auctioned off and we raised over $1,000! The money will be donated to The Secret Sister's Society - an organization dedicated to providing Mammogram's to young women in the South Bend area who cannot afford them.

TV Games vs. Louisville

Thanks to all of you who tuned in for our TV games vs. DePaul!

Just want to let you know that our next TV games will be on Sunday, May 3rd vs. Louisville on CBS College Sports. Games are at 12pm and 2pm. Hope you can watch!!!

Save the Date - Alumni Weekend - 2009

Boston College Weekend (October 23 - 25th) it is!! We have been designated a block of 40 tickets for the 2009 Softball Alumni Weekend. Please know that this is a smaller amount than we normally get. We will be limiting each alumni to 2 tickets only.


Additionally, it would be a good idea for you to apply for BC tickets through the ticket lottery so we can alleviate the need for our block of 40.

I hope you all can attend. If we get a big enough group we will put together an alumni game in Melissa Cook Stadium.

Weekend Events will include:
Pep-Rally Passes
Football Game Tailgate at Melissa Cook Stadium
Football Tickets (limit 2 per alumni)

Other Weekend Events Being Talked About:
Possible Four Winds Casino Trip (Friday Night)
Golf at Warren Course or Burke Course
Bonfire at Speybroeck House

COME TO NOTRE DAME - OCTOBER 24th, 2009!!!!!

Future Domers...Part II