University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Tennessee
No. 1 Tennessee Shuts Down UNC 2-0, Heels Slip To Loser's Bracket
May 19, 2007 | Softball
May 19, 2007
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --- North Carolina mounted a late charge to load the bases in the seventh against top-ranked and No. 5 national seed Tennessee, but Monica Abbott responded with back-to-back strikeouts - giving her 17 on the day - to retire the Tar Heels 2-0 in the winner's bracket of NCAA regional play Saturday afternoon at Tyson Park. The loss means Carolina (46-20) will face the winner of Winthrop-Furman in Game 5 Saturday at 6:30 p.m. for the right to play the Lady Vols (56-5) in the regional final Sunday.
The Tar Heels outhit Tennessee thanks to the rally in the seventh, but fell just short in the end of getting the key hit or two they needed to tie the game.
Cassie Palmer started things off on the right foot for the Tar Heels, reaching base on an infield hit to the left side on the first pitch of the game. The base knock was a promising sign for UNC against Abbott, who held Carolina hitless for eight innings during its home tournament in February. Abbott responded with vengeance though, striking out the next three Carolina batters to send it to the bottom half scoreless.
Tennessee's offense started quickly, scratching for two runs in its first at-bat. The Lady Volunteers used two bunt singles, a seeing-eye single up the middle and a sacrifice fly to stake themselves to a 2-0 advantage. It could have been worse for the Tar Heels, but Carolina starter Danielle Spaulding induced a key groundout that left the bases loaded for the Lady Vols.
Casey Testa gave Carolina its second hit of the day with one out in the fourth, but Abbott, the NCAA career strikeout leader, turned to her favorite weapon to retire UNC, fanning back-to-back Tar Heels to get out of the inning.
UNC mounted a serious threat in the seventh, collecting three hits to load the bases with one out, the first time the Tar Heels had advanced a runner past first all day. But Abbot was up to the challenge despite the added pressure, closing out the game with two strikeouts to bring her total to 17 on the day. The win took Abbott's record to 43-3 on the year.
Spaulding (7-2) picked up just her second loss of the year for Carolina despite giving the Tar Heels a very solid effort in the circle. She allowed just five hits in six innings of work and struck out six Lady Vols.
