University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
18-38
NC State (Semifinals)
38-18
Tar Heels Hold Off Wolfpack To Advance To ACC Finals
May 13, 2017 | Softball
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| #7 NC State (18-38) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 3 |
| #3 North Carolina (38-18) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | - | 8 | 10 | 1 |
CHAPEL HILL – Third-seeded North Carolina held off a late surge from rival NC State, the #7 seed, on Friday afternoon in the ACC Semifinals, defeating the Wolfpack, 8-7, to advance to the ACC Championship game for the first time since 2011. UNC put up four runs in the bottom of the first but fell behind 5-4 in the top of the fifth. A two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth put UNC back on top, 8-5, and the Tar Heels stranded the tying run on third base in the top of the seventh to secure the one-run victory. With the win, UNC improves to 38-18, while NC State's season comes to an end at 18-38.
“I'm so proud of the team,” said head coach Donna J. Papa. “I think we came out swinging our bats just like we did yesterday. They bounced back after we went down a run and they scored four. That's how we've played all year. I couldn't be more proud of what they did. Any time we play NC State, it does not matter what your record is, it is just a dogfight and that was one today.”
Nearly every batter in the Tar Heel lineup had a hit in the game, led by Taylor Wike, who was 2-for-3 with a walk, a run and two key RBIs. Destiny DeBerry gave UNC back the lead with a two-out, two-run single, and Leah Murray was 2-for-4 with a run.
Kendra Lynch and Katelyn Shifflett each homered in the first inning, as Lynch's three-run blast broke the Carolina single-season record for total bases and moved her into second in career RBIs (165). Lynch finished the day with 141 total bases, passing the record of 140 set in 1996 by Christine Kubin in 1996 and matched in 2003 by Jaclyn Holden.
“It definitely felt really good,” said Lynch. “Our whole goal is just to jump on them early to work ahead and help the pitcher. When you get your leadoff on, it's a huge momentum swing for you. The energy was so high and we were just so pumped up. You can just feel that when you're up to bat, so it was really fun to go in and do my thing and keep hitting.”
Brittany Pickett, who extended her reached-base streak to 21 consecutive games with a single and a walk in the game, started in the circle for Carolina, but left in the top of the fifth after surrendering the lead. Lynch (11-4) got the Heels out of the fifth and went on to pitch 2.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and no walks with two strikeouts. Pickett returned to the circle with one out in the seventh and secured her sixth save of the year, extending her lead on the UNC record, by pitching a total of 4.2 innings with five runs on nine hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts.
Peyton Silverman (13-24) finished out her rookie campaign by allowing eight runs, but only two earned, on 10 hits and three walks with a strikeout over the first five innings. Brittany Nimmo came in in relief and tossed a perfect bottom of the sixth.
“It was a fun game,” said Lynch. “I think everyone had a huge role in the win. This was a total team effort and it was really fun to go out there, especially against a rival, and get the big win.”
Kendra Lynch opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, crushing a three-run bomb to right center, her 21st of the season, after Murray and Wike had reached on an error and a bunt single. Shifflett then made it 4-0 with a solo shot over the video board in left field.
Carolina had runners on with less than two outs in the second and fourth innings, but Silverman kept them in place to hold the 4-0 score.
The Wolfpack exploded for five runs on six straight hits in the top of the fifth to send Pickett to the dugout. The first three batters reached on singles, then Jade Caraway cleared the bases with a triple to right center. Tyler Ross tied the score with an RBI triple to the same gap, and a single up the middle by Molly Hutchison put NC State on top 5-4. Kendra Lynch came in with two runners on and no outs and retired three straight to keep the Pack from doing further damage.
“I was just trying to stay calm and do my job,” said Lynch. “I know my job is to help Brittany and help her get out of situations just like she would do for me. I just wanted to make sure I could limit the damage from what they've already done, just go in and throw strikes and let my defense work for me.”
Carolina took back the lead in the bottom of the fifth, using a two-out rally to plate four. Berlynne Delamora drew a leadoff walk, then a fortunate hop on a ball to short made it first and third with no outs. Two Tar Heels popped up, but DeBerry came through with a two-out, two-run single to put UNC back in front. Murray beat out a bunt single, then Wike made it 8-5 with another two-run single up the middle.
“I don't think we were nervous, I think it fired us up a little bit,” said DeBerry. “I was pretty confident. When we have our energy up, almost everyone comes through. There's a couple of people on the team who do a good job of being the energizer, so I was trying to feed off them.”
NC State got the first two batters on in the sixth inning, but Lynch shut down the top of the order to maintain the three-run lead.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Haylee Kobziak crushed a solo home run to left field to cut the deficit to two. Jessica Moore followed with a single, as Pickett returned to the circle with a two-run lead to protect. Relief pitcher Brittany Nimmo, who had tossed a perfect bottom of the sixth, came up to bat for the first time and laced an RBI double down the left field line to make it one-run game.
A ground out to second put the tying run 60 feet away from home plate and put the bat in the hands of Macauley Prickett, who was already 3-for-3 on the day. On a 1-1 pitch, Prickett chopped one to Campbell Hutcherson at first base, who flipped to Shifflett at the bag for the final out of the inning, securing Pickett's ACC-leading sixth save of the season and punching UNC's ticket to the ACC final.
North Carolina will host top-seeded No. 4 Florida State on Saturday, May 13, at 2 p.m., in the ACC title game. The three-time defending ACC Tournament Champions went 24-0 in the ACC regular season and advanced to their fifth consecutive ACC Championship game with a 6-0 victory over #5-seed Notre Dame in the first ACC Semifinal game.
UNC makes its first appearance in the title game since 2011 and fifth overall, seeking its second Tournament title (2001) in school history. UNC will play in the ACC Championship at home for the first time ever, having lost in the semifinals in both 2006 and 2012.
“I'm really excited for both of our seniors to play for an ACC championship at their own home field,” said Papa. “There's no pressure. We're trying not to make the game any bigger than it is. We've tried to treat it as a three -game series like all of our ACC series have been. We won the first two games of this series and now we're playing 'Championship Sunday.' We always call it Championship Sunday, although this time it's Championship Saturday. That's what we've worked for all year. They have phenomenal hitters, they have excellent pitching and we're going to have to play really well to have a chance to beat them. We can't make mistakes and we've got to be able to hit the ball.”
“We're very excited (to play Florida State tomorrow),” said DeBerry. “I feel like this is our chance. We've been playing well all season and I think we're going to come through. We just have to play our game and stay confident with what we do.”
Saturday's ACC Championship will air on ESPN at 2 p.m. and will be available online nationally on WatchESPN.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lynch, Kendra (11-4)
L: Peyton Silverman (13-24)
S: Pickett, Brittany (6)
Batting:
2B: Brittany Nimmo 1
3B: Jade Caraway 1 ; Tyler Ross 1
HR: Haylee Kobziak 1
RBI: Jade Caraway 3 ; Tyler Ross 1 ; Molly Hutchison 1 ; Haylee Kobziak 1 ; Brittany Nimmo 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jade Caraway 1 ; Tyler Ross 1 ; Haylee Kobziak 1 ; Natalie Jones 1 ; Cheyenne Balzer 1 ; Molly Martin 1 ; Macauley Prickett 1
HBP: Alyssa Compton 1
Batting:
HR: Lynch, Kendra 1 ; Shifflett, Katelyn 1
RBI: Wike, Taylor 2 ; Lynch, Kendra 3 ; Shifflett, Katelyn 1 ; DeBerry, Destiny 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Murray, Leah 1 ; Wike, Taylor 1 ; Lynch, Kendra 1 ; Delamora, Berlynne 1 ; Burns, Brooke 1 ; Shifflett, Katelyn 1 ; Pickett, Brittany 1 ; DeBerry, Destiny 1
