University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
UNCW
No. 23 Carolina Cruises Past UNC Wilmington, 8-0
February 11, 2009 | Softball
Feb. 11, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Tar Heel softball bats came to life Wednesday afternoon as the Tar Heels pounded out 12 hits en route to a 8-0 win over visiting UNC Wilmington. Danielle Spaulding improved to 2-0 as she struck out 12 in four innings of work. Seniors Breanna Brown and Alyssa Francona led the offensive attack as Brown drove in a pair and Francona notched three hits.
The reigning ACC Pitcher of the Week lived up to her billing once again on Wednesday as Danielle Spaulding tossed four scoreless frames, picking up strikeouts for all 12 outs she needed, while allowing just one hit. Freshman Constance Orr came on in relief in the top of the fifth inning and kept the strong performance in the circle going picking up three straight grounders. Orr attempted to copy Spaulding in the sixth as she struck out three in the inning.
Carolina picked up a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second as Emily Troup saw just five pitches before reaching first. Anna Roberts would move Troup to second with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt but a ground out and a strikeout would end any Tar Heel threat.
The Tar Heels pushed three runs across in the bottom of the third taking advantage of four UNC Wilmington errors in the inning. Dani Manko led off and reached on an error by the third baseman as the throw overflew the first baseman allowing Manko to reach second easily. Christine Knauer would step to the plate next and would also take advantage of a Seahawk miscue as the UNCW first baseman was unable to handle the throw allowing Manko to score and Knauer to move to second. Breanna Brown put runners on the corners as she showed her hustle beating out a single to the right side of the infield.
rown put even more pressure on the defense as she stole second base as the throw from Stacey Pinno sailed into center field allowing Knauer and Brown to both score and put Carolina up 3-0. The Tar Heels would tack on three more runs in the fifth as Stephanie Murad drove in Emily Troup with a pinch hit double down the left field line after Troup led off the inning with a double into the right field gap and Alyssa Francona followed with a single of her own. Breanna Brown would later drive in a pair with another infield single as the Durham, N.C., native drove in both Francona and Dani Manko to give Carolina a 6-0 advantage.
Carolina tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth as Troup started things off again with a base on balls after a pop out to center put one out on the board. Anna Roberts followed with a single back up the middle before Ally Blake hit into a fielder's choice cutting Troup down at third. Francona would follow with a single back up the middle to make the score 7-0 as Roberts scored from second before Dani Manko lined a single off the first baseman to plate Blake from second and give Carolina the 8-0 run-rule win.
Carolina will look to keep it going on Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Wichita State in the second game of the Carolina Classic. Joining Carolina and Wichita State in the 2009 field will be George Washington, Penn State and No. 9 California.
