North Carolina
Central Connecticut State
Tar Heels Battle, Fall To Georgia In NCAA Regional
May 17, 2015 | Softball
ATHENS, GA –The University of North Carolina softball team fought to remain in the NCAA Softball Tournament on Saturday, defeating Central Connecticut State 8-0 before dropping a heartbreaker to Georgia 6-5.
“I was really proud of how our whole team competed and that's all you can ask” said Hall of Fame Head Coach Donna J. Papa. “There's always going to be just one team standing at the end of the year. I'm really proud of how we competed both in the Central Connecticut game and into this one and we had just a lot of confidence. I always felt like we were going to win the game and we came up one run short.”
Jenna Kelly went 5-5 over the course of the day with five RBI and two home runs.
Game One
In contrast to yesterday's one-hit outing against Western Kentucky, the Tar Heels got on the scoreboard early in their first game of the day against Central Connecticut State.
After Aquilla Mateen reached second base on a throwing error by the CCSU pitcher, Kristen Brown lofted a single to left field to put runners on the corners in the top of the first. Brown would steal second base on the next at-bat, allowing Mateen to score on the throw down to the bag.
With two outs, Jenna Kelly singled up the middle to score Brown. Kelly then scored after the Blue Devils second baseman misplayed a Kendra Lynch grounder and the catcher dropped the ball on tag at the plate, giving Carolina 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
Kelly kept the momentum going in the third with a leadoff home run over the scoreboard in left field to make it a four run game.
Mateen and Brown kept things going in the third with one out singles before Amber Parrish drew a walk to load the bases for Kelly. The senior kept her hot streak going, doubling to left center to bring in two more runs. Lynch followed her with a single through the right side that scored two more. After four innings it was an 8-0 UNC lead, how it would stay for the remainder of the game.
Kaylee Carlson picked up the win in the circle while allowing just three Central Connecticut hits while only walking one.
Carolina tallied 11 hits off CCSU's Laura Messina. Messina, 14th in the nation in strikeouts, fanned three Tar Heel batters.
Jenna Kelly went 3-3 in the game with four RBI, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
Game Two
After a 30 minute break, North Carolina came back out to play Georgia for the right to face Western Kentucky on Sunday.
This was the second meeting of the year between these two teams. The Tar Heels upset UGA in Athens 15-9 earlier in the season.
Earlier in the day, the Bulldogs dropped a 14 inning epic to WKU 2-1.
With two outs in the bottom of the first, Kaylee Carlson's intentional walk of UGA star Alex Hugo proved costly as Tina Iosefa doubled to right center on the next at-bat, bringing Hugo home to give the Dawgs an early 1-0 lead.
Georgia added another run in the second after Maeve McGuire singled through the left side to score Kaylee Puailoa from second base.
The Heels rallied in the top of the fourth to overtake Georgia 3-2. Amber Parrish started things off by drawing a walk from UGA starter Brittany Gray. Jenna Kelly followed her with a single through the left side and pinch hitter Erin Satterfield laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. With one out, Lauren Walker hit a grounder to Anna Swafford at third base whose throw to first went wide of the bag, allowing Parrish and Kelly to score and tie the game and Walker to take third base.
Pinch hitter Kati Causey's single up the middle brought in Walker to give UNC the lead and forced the Bulldogs to bring in Chelsea Wilkinson to pitch. Wilkinson pitched 13.1 innings against Western Kentucky.
Kristen Brown kept the momentum going in UNC's direction in the fifth with a towering solo home run to start the inning.
Carlson, pitching her third game in two days, got off to a rocky start in the bottom of the fifth, walking McGuire and hitting Niaja Griffin with a pitch. She steadied herself by striking out sisters Cortni and Sydni Emanuel before intentionally walking Hugo again to load the bases for Iosefa. After working the count to 2-2, Carlson hit the first baseman with a pitch to bring in a Georgia run. Swafford then singled up the middle, scoring two and giving the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead.
Down to their last out in the top of the seventh, Jenna Kelly sent the 0-2 pitch from Wilkinson over the wall in left center to tie the game, sending the Carolina faithful in attendance into a frenzy.
The joy was short-lived however, as Alex Hugo hit a walk-off home run to leadoff the bottom of the seventh, giving Georgia the win 6-5, ending North Carolina's season.
The Tar Heels finish 2015 with a record of 37-16, 16-5 in conference play, second in the ACC.
