A day after "The Hit", Wes Steele and the rest of the Notre Dame Bulldogs were trying to sort things out Friday.

Both Steele and Notre Dame coach Chris Neff said they had troubles sleeping after the Bulldogs' invigorating 4-3 win over South Pemiscot Thursday.

Steele was still in shock after hitting a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the seventh to advance the Bulldogs (24-3) to the Class 2A Quarterfinals, where they will play Clearwater (17-3) at 3 p.m. today at Notre Dame High School.

"It's still going through my mind," said Steele, who leads the team with six postseason RBIs. "It hasn't sunk in yet."

Neff said he is not concerned about an emotional letdown today.

"The kids are excited to be playing at home," said Neff. "We were talking about playing at Capaha (Field), but the kids said `Coach, we'd really rather play here. We know we can win here. We know this is our home.'"

The reason Notre Dame considered moving the game to Capaha, was because its field was still a wreck after last week's severe storm. Volunteers and faculty had to scurry Friday to put up half the outfield fence and straighten out the right field foul pole.

Clearwater, a 9-2 winner over Mansfield on Thursday, is a well-balanced team, much like Notre Dame.

Clearwater coach Tim Green said he doesn't have one standout player, but has four good hitters, including Andy Page and Matt Keister, the No. 1 and No. 2 hitters. Before Clearwater's sectional game, the Tigers were batting an unbelievable .392 as a team. Their only losses this spring -- they were 21-2 in fall baseball -- were to Fredericktown, Kennett and Twin Rivers.

Green also said that Clearwater's ace, Jamie McAlister, would not be available at all for today's game after throwing 106 pitches in the sectional.

Despite the lopsided margin, Mansfield was in the game until the sixth inning and Green felt he needed McAlister to continue.

"They were the home team so I had to leave him in," Green said. "I could've taken him out in the seventh, but then his pitch count was up anyway."

Green said he was undecided who he would pitch against Notre Dame today, saying it could be one of any three equal pitchers.

Notre Dame will send Mark Ostendorf to the hill. Ostendorf is 8-2 with a 2.00 earned run average.

The two teams have a combined 41-6 record.

"We've played some pretty good ball," Green said. "If we come in and play a pretty good game, I hope to at least give them a good challenge. When you get to this level, all the teams are solid from here on out. It's going to be fun. I hope both teams play well."