Tar Heels Fall Just Short In ACC Title Game

Saturday, May 13

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2:00 PM

North Carolina

38-19

Florida State (Championship)

51-6-1

North Carolina

Florida State

May 13, 2017 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

By: UNC Athletic Communications

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
North Carolina (38-19)	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	4	2
No. 4 Florida State (51-6-1)	0	0	0	2	0	2	-	4	5	0

CHAPEL HILL – A two-out, three-run home run by Katelyn Shifflett in the top of the seventh cut the deficit to a single run, but top-seeded No. 4 Florida State closed out a perfect 27-0 season against conference opponents with a 4-3 victory to capture its fourth consecutive ACC Tournament title. The Seminoles secured the ACC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, improving to 51-6-1, while the third-seeded Tar Heels fall to 38-19.

“I thought we competed really well,” said Donna J. Papa. “It was a great championship game. I thought Brittney Pickett did an awesome job on the mound. The two big hits they got were two of the better hitters in the nation in (Alex) Powers and (Jessica) Warren.

“I feel really good about what this team has done at this point. To have a young team, but to battle like we did—we are never out of a game. You have to go to the last pitch and the last out for us, and that's what we've shown all season.”

The Seminoles reached the Championship game by blanking Virginia (16-0) and Notre Dame (6-0), and Florida State senior Jessica Burroughs came one out away from making her team the second ever to completely shut out the ACC Tournament, when Tar Heel junior Katelyn Shifflett sent the ball over the fence in center field.

“I'd been working the whole game, just kind of staying back and trying to see the ball deep and hit it in fair territory,” said Shifflett. “Luckily, she threw a pitch I could hit and I executed. I was just trying to get on base and let the next batter behind me do their job as well, because I can't do it all on my own.”

The two-time ACC Pitcher of the Year had a one-hitter going into the top of the seventh, when Taylor Wike led off with a single through the right side. Berlynne Delamora hit a little nubber to the right side for an infield single, then Katie Bailiff crushed one to right center. Off the bat, it looked like it might go all the way, but it was caught at the warning track for the second out of the inning. Shifflett then stepped up to the plate and drilled her eighth home run of the season to bring the tying run to the plate.

“Katie Bailiff—I thought that was gone,” said Papa. “I was ready to do a home run dance on that one except it didn't get out of the park. But Katelyn Shifflett, gosh she came up big. And Taylor Wike, she had two of our four hits. She got us to get moving in that inning for sure. I'm really proud of what she did and what Katelyn did.”

Shifflett's dinger came in front of a capacity crowd at Anderson Stadium. Recorded at 920, fans were standing several rows deep in addition to the extra bleacher seating that was brought in for the week.

“The home crowd was fantastic,” said Papa. “It happened that we played NC State (in the Semifinals) so you had people from this whole area yesterday and then today, fantastic crowd, and we don't have enough seating. I saw people standing that paid to get in to an ACC Tournament game. What a testament to ACC softball, to our team, to Florida State, to the whole championship, to have that kind of interest and crowd is really exciting. That makes me get jazzed and at the same time, it tells me we need a lot more seating for our games. We're going to be working on that. That's something I'm really committed to making it happen.”

Burroughs (25-4) allowed a total of three runs on four hits over 6.2 innings, striking out eight with no walks. Meghan King earned her second save of the season, striking out the only batter she faced in the seventh inning.

Brittany Pickett (27-8) went the distance for Carolina and limited FSU to three earned runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts over the full six innings.

“I thought she pitched a heck of a game,” said Papa of the ACC Freshman of the Year. “For her third game in a row, in three days, in an ACC Championship, as a freshman, to do what she's done for our team. She was upset in the end for striking out, but that's where you gain your maturity.”

Anna Shelnutt singled down the left field line in the bottom of the third for the first base runner of the game, and Taylor Wike broke up Burroughs' perfect game bid with one-out single in the fourth, but a run did not cross the plate until the bottom of the fourth.

ACC Player of the Year Jessica Warren crushed a leadoff home run, the school-record 60th of the junior's career, to open the scoring with just the third hit of the game for either team. Sydney Broderick extended the fourth inning with a two-out walk, then ACC Tournament MVP Dani Morgan made it 2-0 Seminoles with an RBI triple to right center.

A miscommunication in the Tar Heel outfield allowed Warren to reach as the leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth, and Alex Powers doubled FSU's lead with a two-run homer to left center.

“The only part that is disappointing to me is that that fly ball should have been caught,” said Papa. “You catch that fly ball and maybe it's a 3-3 game in the seventh and you keep playing.”

Trailing 4-0 with two outs and two on in the top of the seventh, Shifflett launched a three-run shot to cut the deficit to one. Florida State made a call to the bullpen, and Meghan King got the job done, striking out Pickett for a one-batter save to seal up the Seminoles' 15th ACC Tournament title and fourth in a row.

The Tar Heels hope to receive an at-large bid to the 2017 NCAA Tournament and will await news from the committee in the annual NCAA Selection Show. The show will air nationally on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 14. Carolina seeks its 14th berth to the NCAA Tournament with the season-long goal of advancing to Super Regionals for the first time in school history.

2017 ACC All-Tournament Team
Dani Morgan, Florida State – MVP
Anna Shelnutt, Florida State
Carsyn Gordon, Florida State
Jessica Burroughs, Florida State
Meghan King, Florida State
Brittany Pickett, North Carolina
Kendra Lynch, North Carolina
Leah Murray, North Carolina
Caitlyn Brooks, Notre Dame
Jessica Moore, NC State
Peyton Silverman, NC State