University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
James Madison
Spaulding, Norris Mow Down James Madison
March 9, 2008 | Softball
March 9, 2008
Chapel Hill, N.C. - The duo of Danielle Spaulding and Lisa Norris combined for a two-hit shutout against James Madison on Sunday in the final game of the Tar Heel Invitational. The pair of Tar Heels combined for 16 strikeouts on the day as Carolina improved to 19-6 on the year and will now travel to Honolulu, Hawaii to take part in the Hawaii Spring Fling Invitational which is set to run March 12-16.
The Tar Heels got on the board early as Breanna Brown led off the bottom of the first with a single to left field and moved to second on a ground out before Jennifer Jacobs laced a double past the centerfielder to put Carolina ahead 1-0.
The lone run would be all starter Danielle Spaulding would need as she turned in another dominant performance in the circle. Spaulding picked up strikeouts for 11 of the 15 outs that she recorded on the day. Spaulding was replaced by Lisa Norris who closed the door for her second save of the year and second of the week.
Carolina made it 2-0 after the third when Cassie Palmer connected on a monstrous shot to left field. The home run was her third of the year and 18th of her career as she moved into fourth place on school list.
The Tar Heels loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and looked like they may put the game out of the reach, but Alyssa Francona drove in the lone run of the inning as the Dukes were able to get out of the jam and keep it a three-run contest.
Norris entered in the top of the sixth and picked up where Spaulding left off, setting down the order on strikes in the sixth before getting a fly out and two more K's to end the game and push Carolina to 19-6.
The Tar Heels now head to Honolulu for the Spring Fling Invitational where they will take on Texas (Mar. 12), Maine (Mar. 13), Texas Tech (Mar. 14) and Hawaii (Mar. 14).
