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No. 22 Carolina Crushes Six Home Runs In 17-7 Win Over South Carolina
March 30, 2010 | Softball
March 30, 2010
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- Behind a UNC single game record six home runs No. 22 North Carolina dismantles (10-23) South Carolina, 17-7. Haleigh Dickey led the home run brigade for North Carolina by tying her own UNC single-game record with three home runs. Kelli Wheeler hit two home runs, including a grand slam, as the Tar Heels score a season-high 17 runs in the victory. The win brings North Carolina's record to 25-10 on the season.
South Carolina started the game off hot by hitting back-to-back home runs giving South Carolina an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.
North Carolina responded in the bottom half of the frame by putting up six runs on five hits. With the bases loaded, Wheeler opened the scoring for Carolina by knocking a grand slam on the first pitch of the at bat. The scoring continued when freshman Haleigh Dickey hit her first home run for the game to right-center scoring senior Anna Roberts, giving North Carolina a comfortable 6-2 lead.
North Carolina continued the offensive onslaught in the second inning by again plating six runs. Dickey pounded a home run for the second consecutive inning as the Tar Heels extended the lead to 12-3.
"As a team, we just wanted to get back to playing the way that we are capable of doing. We worked on just trying to keep things really simple for the team," Head Coach Donna Papa said about today's offensive performance. "I was really pleased with how we played today."
In the third inning Haleigh Dickey set another UNC record by being the first Carolina Softball player to hit a home run in three consecutive innings when she pounded a Gamecock 3-2 pitch for a solo home run.
Carolina again continued to pound the Gamecock pitching by putting four more on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Tisha Mahon initiated the inning for the Tar Heels by reaching on an infield single. Mahon, who received the start today for only the second time all season, stole her twelfth base of the season on the next pitch. Two batters later, Brittany McKinney brought Mahon in with a deep home run over the center field fence. The next batter, Wheeler, followed McKinney with a home run of her own to center. The home run gives Wheeler the team-high in home runs for North Carolina's 2010 season with seven. Wheeler's home run gave the Tar Heels a 17-6 lead after four innings.
After a one-run fifth inning by the Gamecocks, Carolina wins the game, 17-7, due to the Eight-Run-Ahead Rule after five innings of play. The win brings the Tar Heels record to 25-10 on the year and gives Carolina another victory in the series history with South Carolina, which has been dominated by the Gamecocks, 47-12. Amber Johnson receives her team-leading 16th win for the Tar Heels.
The seventeen runs by the Tar Heels is the most that Carolina has scored since plating 21 in last year's NCAA Regional vs. Campbell. The 24 combined runs scored from both teams is a season-high for the Tar Heels and the most since Carolina's 24-0 victory over NC Central in the Carolina Classic on February 9th, 2008.
Dickey's three home runs tie her own record from earlier this season, in a game vs. UNC Wilmington, for the most in a single-game in Carolina history. No Tar Heel batter had previously hit more than two in one game. The Woodstock, Ga. native now has six home runs this season, second most (behind Wheeler) on the team.
The six home run performance by the Tar Heels sets a UNC record for most by Carolina in a single-game. The previous record by a Carolina team was five, which occurred in a game against St. Peter's on March 18, 2000.
Carolina returns to action tomorrow night in a doubleheader against (14-18-1) Campbell starting at 5 p.m.
