Tar Heels Shut Out NC State, 6-0

Friday, March 24

Chapel Hill, N.C.

5:00 PM

North Carolina

25-7, 6-1

NC State

11-19, 5-2

NC State

North Carolina

March 25, 2017 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: UNC Athletic Communications

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
NC State (11-19, 5-2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	2
North Carolina (25-7, 6-1)	3	1	0	0	2	0	0	6	12	0

CHAPEL HILL – After 11 games on the road, the Tar Heels enjoyed a happy homecoming on Friday night, cruising to a 6-0 shutout over in-state rival NC State. The win lifts UNC to 25-7 (6-1 ACC), while NC State slips to 11-19 (5-2 ACC).

Freshman Brittany Pickett went the distance for Carolina in the circle, improving to 12-0 with a five-hit shutout. The rookie hurler allowed a single walk while striking out three en route to her second complete-game shutout of the season. Pickett is the only Tar Heel to toss a complete-game shutout this season, and she has also teamed up for three combined shutouts.

Sophomore Leah Murray led the game by going 3-for-4 with two runs and two stolen bases at the top of the order, and Taylor Wike was 2-for-3 with a run and a stolen base in the two spot. Kendra Lynch walked, singled and drove in two runs, while Katie Bailiff, Destiny DeBerry, Katelyn Shifflett and Brittany Pickett all had a hit and an RBI in the game, including back-to-back home runs by Shifflett and Pickett in the fifth inning.

Peyton Silverman tossed all six innings for NC State, allowing six runs, five earned, on 12 hits and three walks with a strikeout. Five different members of the Wolfpack had a hit in the game, including a pinch hit double by Brittany Nimmo.

Carolina got on the board quickly, batting around and plating three runs in the bottom of the first. Murray led off with a single and a stolen base, then Wike reached on a throwing error after dropping down a sacrifice bunt. She stole to get into scoring possession, then Berlynne Delamora loaded the bases with a hit by pitch. Lynch drove in the first run of the game with a walk, then Bailiff landed an RBI single just behind first base. Another hit batter allowed pinch runner Brittany West to score, before three straight outs stranded three.

After a perfect top of the second, Murray once again led off with a single and a stolen base. Lynch then picked up her second RBI of the game with a two-out single to left, making it 4-0 Carolina.

Shifflett and Pickett led off the fifth with back-to-back home runs to push UNC further ahead, 6-0.

NC State never got a base runner past second in the game, and a one-out double in the top of the seventh was the final bit of offense for the Wolfpack, as Pickett wrapped up the complete-game shutout, 6-0.

UNC seeks to clinch its third straight ACC series victory on Saturday afternoon, taking on NC State at 1 p.m. Tar Heel standout Kristen Brown '16 will have her #12 jersey honored prior to the first pitch.