North Carolina
Princeton
No. 15 Tar Heels Cruise Past Princeton
March 8, 2009 | Softball
March 8, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The No. 15 North Carolina softball team continued its hot hitting to go along with its stellar pitching on Sunday as the Tar Heels took down Princeton, 11-0 in a run-rule game to close out the Tar Heel Invitational. Danielle Spaulding picked up her eighth win of the year as she tossed five scoreless innings, striking out 11 in the process as the Tar Heels captured the Tar Heel Invitational. Carolina will not have much time to rest as they open Atlantic Coast Conference play on Monday at 4 p.m. when Florida State comes to town.
It took the Tar Heels an inning to get going but once they did they were hard to stop. Anna Roberts laced a double down the left field line to score Whitney Allen and put Carolina in front 1-0. The top of the third saw Carolina put a four-spot up as Breanna Brown, Emily Troup, Whitney Allen and Roberts all tallied RBI hits in the frame that upped the lead to 5-0.
Following a scoreless fourth, the Tar Heel bats went back to work in the fifth as Breanna Brown tallied an RBI double following an RBI off the bat of Stephanie Murad. The big inning came in the sixth when Carolina pushed four more runs across the plate. Kelli Wheeler started things off with an RBI double to left field putting runners on second and third for Dani Manko who hit a ball that was misplayed first baseman as the speedster raced past her scoring a run on the play. A walk would load the bases once again before Christine Knauer drove in a run with a fielder's choice before another Breanna Brown RBI this time on a ground out to up the lead to 11-0.
Danielle Spaulding needed just the single run as she tossed five scoreless frames, while striking out 11. The junior left-hander allowed just two hits in the game as she struck out at least 10 for the eighth time this season. Spaulding along with fellow starter Lisa Norris earned all-tournament honors. Whitney Allen was named the tournament MVP, while Christine Knauer also was tabbed to the all-tournament team.
Carolina will open ACC play on Monday when the Tar Heels host Florida State at 4 p.m., before a doubleheader at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
