UNC Travels to Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

CHAPEL HILL – For the second consecutive season, North Carolina travels to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California for five games against premier competition Thursday through Saturday at Big League Dreams Parks. The Tar Heels are coming off a successful 3-1 weekend at home, hosting the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Carolina opens the tournament with No. 20 Oklahoma State and No. 16 Kentucky Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET. Friday, the Tar Heels face Utah and New Mexico State beginning at 6 p.m. UNC wraps up play Saturday vs. Long Beach State at 1 p.m. Fans can watch all five games on FloSoftball.

Carolina Goes 3-1 in Fourth Annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Hosting their fourth annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the Tar Heels wrapped up the weekend with a 3-1 performance at Anderson Stadium. North Carolina topped No. 17 Michigan twice for only the second and third times in program history. UNC split the weekend with Northwestern, falling to the Wildcats in the first meeting before a 5-0 shutout in the rematch. Brittany Pickett tossed each of the Tar Heels three wins with two complete games and one in relief. Offensively, Carolina hit .294 with five Tar Heels hitting over .300, including Kiani Ramsey and Destiny DeBerry who hit .500. Freshmen Abby Settlemyre and Kiersten Licea each recorded their first career home runs against Michigan. Settlemyre slugged a two-run homer in the fourth before Licea slugged Carolina's first grand slam since Ramsey's on April 6, 2018 in the fifth inning. Settlemyre also rounded the bases for triples in back-to-back games, recording a 1.111 slugging percentage during the tournament.
» Striking out a season high of seven batters, Brittany Pickett retired every leadoff batter en route to her second shutout of the season against Northwestern.
» Leah Murray extended her hitting streak to 11 games and upped her career stolen base total to 82.
» With two wins over No. 17 Michigan, the tar Heels have won three games over ranked teams. Since the inception of the USA TODAY/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll in 1995, UNC's three wins over ranked teams this season are its most ever in the month of February. The Tar Heels recorded two Feb. wins over ranked teams in 2002 and 2010.

Pickett Named ACC Co-Pitcher of the Week
Following a 3-0 weekend in the circle, Brittany Pickett garnered ACC-Co Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 19. This is Pickett's fifth ACC weekly honor in her career and first for the Tar Heels in 2019. Earning the title ACC/Big Ten Challenge Most Valuable Pitcher, Pickett went 3-0 in two complete games and 4.0 innings of relief during the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Pickett tossed two wins against No. 17 Michigan for her third win over a ranked team this season. The Indian Trail, North Carolina native also threw a seven strikeout, four-hit shutout over Northwestern on the second day of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The junior limited her opponents to a .172 average with only two of 11 total hits for extra bases throughout the weekend.

Record Watch
Senior Leah Murray ranks second in program history with 82 stolen bases. Murray stole three on opening day to tie Christine Knauer's mark. Tiffany Tolleson holds the record with 102. Fellow senior Destiny DeBerry ranks seventh with 66 stolen bases. In the circle, Brittany Pickett's name can be found eight times with her highest ranking of third with eight career saves. Lisa Norris holds the record at 11.

Up Next
UNC returns home to host Elon Wednesday at 4 p.m. and the Carolina Classic Thursday through Sunday at Anderson Stadium.

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Players Mentioned

Destiny DeBerry

Kiersten Licea

Leah Murray

Brittany Pickett

Kiani Ramsey

Abby Settlemyre