Notre Dame's title game opponent

Notre Dame will face a familiar foe in Saturday's Class 3 title game at 1 p.m.

The Bulldogs will play Kirksville, which they beat 3-2 in 13 innings in last year's state semifinal.

Jackie Bishop returns as the Tigers' pitcher. Notre Dame collected 12 hits over 13 innings against her last year. According to the team's stats, she did not allow an earned run through districts this season. She went 126 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run. Any way you cut it, that's impressive. She also struck out 293. She tossed 10 shutout innings Friday against Republic. She struck out 21 and allowed two hits.

One thing that could work in Notre Dame's favor is that Bishop had to throw three more innings than Notre Dame ace Lauren Reinagel on Friday.

The two teams did not play a common opponent this season. Kirksville averaged 6.25 runs per game, while Notre Dame averaged 8.1 runs a game this season. Kirksville's top hitters through districts were Carrie Hudson (.520 average in 75 at-bats) and Danielle Lewellen (.402 average in 87 ABs). Lewellen stole 28 bases while Megan Becker swiped 25.