Tar Heels Fall To #12-Seed Ole Miss In Regional Final

Sunday, May 21

Oxford, Miss.

2:30 PM

North Carolina

40-21

Ole Miss

43-18

Ole Miss

North Carolina

May 21, 2017 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: UNC Athletic Communications

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
#12 Ole Miss (43-18)	0	0	0	2	0	2	3	7	14	0
North Carolina (40-21)	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	2

Oxford, Miss. – North Carolina's 2017 season came to a close on Sunday afternoon, as 12th-seeded Ole Miss came back to score five runs over the final two innings and defeat the Tar Heels, 7-2, in the NCAA Oxford Regional Final. The win punches the 13th-ranked Rebels' (43-18) ticket to Super Regionals for the first time in program history, while the Tar Heels end the year at 40-21.

"I think from our standpoint, we had a great regional and came very far," said head coach Donna J. Papa. "The last two weekends we have been in the championship game. We played in the ACC Championship game and this Regional Championship. I am proud in this team led by two great seniors in Kendra Lynch and Erin Sugg. I thought we got off to a great start today. I thought we had good momentum that we brought in from last night."

Sophomore Leah Murray led the Tar Heels at the plate once again, going 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and a run to wrap up the weekend hitting .643 with nine hits and three stolen bases. The outfielder finished the season ranked fourth all time in Carolina history with 38 stolen bases, hitting .370 on the year.

Kendra Lynch hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first to set a new all-time single-season record with her 68th run batted in. The senior finished the year with 144 total bases, also a school record, behind 21 home runs and a team-high .374 average and .791 slugging. She finishes her career throughout the Carolina record books in both pitching and hitting, including second all time in career home runs (52) and RBIs (168), third in total bases (378) and tied for 10th in strikeouts (280).

"This has been the best experience that I could ever ask for," said Lynch. "Having the opportunity to play here and grow has been so rewarding. That is something that I can never thank Coach Papa enough for."

Brittany West had an RBI single in the second inning, after Brittany Pickett led off that inning with a single. Destiny DeBerry stole a base and scored as Pickett's flex runner.

Pickett tossed the first 6.2 innings, but allowed seven runs, six earned, on 14 hits and a walk with three strikeouts to finish her freshman year with a 22-10 record. Lynch came in in the seventh and walked a batter before recording the final out of the seventh.

Kaitlin Lee (23-10) went the distance for Ole Miss, limiting Carolina to two runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Elantra Cox and Miranda Strother led the Rebels at the plate with three hits and two runs each, and Strother added two RBIs.

"I think Ole Miss did a great job," said Papa. "They are a very good team. They put the ball in play a lot and they made it happen. Their leadoff, Cox, is so athletic and such a good player. They are just very athletic. There were only two balls that were hit into the outfield—one was over the fence and the other went out into centerfield—most of the stuff was in the infield, but they did a good job of putting the ball in play."

Ole Miss had two infield singles in the top of the first, but a double play and a caught stealing kept the Rebels from getting past first base.

Murray led off the bottom of the first with a single, her seventh leadoff hit of the weekend, and stole second to get into scoring position. Lynch then drove her home with a single down the left field line to put UNC on the board and break UNC's single-season RBI record with her 68th of the year.

After a 1-2-3 top of the second, Pickett led off with a single to center. DeBerry stole second as the flex runner, and West singled up the middle to send her home, making it 2-0 Carolina.

Elantra Cox led off the fourth inning with a single to short and moved to second on a ground out. Miranda Strother and Brittany Finney then hit back-to-back two-out RBI singles to tie the score at two.

A two-out double by Murray started a threat in the bottom of the fifth, but after intentionally walking Lynch to load the bases, Lee drew a groundout to strand three and keep the score knotted at two.

Strother singled to first base in the top of the sixth, then Finney gave Ole Miss the lead with a two-run home run to left field, making it 4-2.

The Rebels sealed the game in the top of the seventh, starting the inning with four straight singles to score the first run. Pickett drew pop ups on the next two plays, but a wild pitch and another RBI single made it 7-2 Ole Miss, before Lynch came in and closed out the inning.

Lee set Carolina down in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 7-2 victory and send the Rebels to Super Regionals for the first time in program history.

North Carolina finishes 2017 with a 40-21 record after reaching the ACC title game and the NCAA Regional Finals in the same season for the first time in program history. The Tar Heels posted 40 wins for the 13th time after finishing in a tie for third in the ACC. Carolina did all this with just four upperclassmen and 12 freshmen on the roster, as the Tar Heels have a very bright future ahead.

"It is exciting for us and our future," said Papa. "What a great statement for these freshmen and for how this program grew this year from where we started with our first tournament in Puerto Rico. To come where we have come, to know that we have all these great young players with this experience, and to finish the way we finished the past couple of weekends...it is a great stepping stone for our program."