Harvard Outlasts Tar Heels to Open Carolina Classic

Friday, March 2

Chapel Hill, N.C.

5 PM

North Carolina

6-11

Harvard

3-4

Harvard

North Carolina

Hailey Jensen went 2-for-3 with an RBI in her first career start.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 2, 2018 | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

CHAPEL HILL – Despite 11 Tar Heel hits, Carolina could not overcome Harvard on Friday night, falling to the Crimson, 4-3 to begin the Carolina Classic.

Sophomores Hailey Jensen and Hailey Cole led the Tar Heels' offense with multi-hit games. Jensen went 2-for-3 with an RBI while Cole was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate. Leah Murray accounted for the second Tar Heel RBI who sit at 6-11 on the season. Harvard's leadoff hitter Rhianna Rich logged a standout performance, going 3-for-4 with two runs for the Crimson who improve to 3-4 on the season.

Harvard led from the gates, plating two runs in the first inning. Morgan Melito sent an RBI-double to left after a Carolina miscue plated the first run of the game.

Carolina cut Harvard's lead in half as Taylor Wike crossed the plate on a Crimson error in the bottom of the frame. Murray's single to center knotted up the game at 2-2 as Cole came home in the third inning.

After a groundout and pickoff, Harvard plated two unearned runs on a trio of singles in the fifth. The Tar Heels responded with Jensen's one-run single in the fourth that allowed Kristina Burkardt to score who doubled to begin the inning.

Carolina fought to the end as Katie Bailiff sent a two-out single to left in the bottom of the seventh. However, Harvard's Kathleen Duncan hurled her fifth strikeout to clinch the decision for her third win of the season. Hannah Nommensen took the loss for Carolina while starter Brittany Pickett and Katie Grace Olinger tossed 3.0 and 2.1 innings, respectively.

The Tar Heels resume competition in the Carolina Classic Saturday at 2:30 p.m. to take on Kansas and Elon at 5 p.m.

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