Kristen Brown breaks UNC softball career home run record

Forty-four.

That's the number that was buzzing around the Anderson Softball Stadium on Wednesday.

While the North Carolina softball team beat the Elon Phoenix by a score of 12-4, the game was much closer in the bottom of the fourth inning.

UNC junior shortstop Kristen Brown stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and the Tar Heels up 3-2. Brown quickly fell into the the hole with two strikes — whiffing at a changeup for the second strike.

“In that at-bat, she got fooled by the changeup but she is tougher when she has two strikes on her,” Coach Donna Papa said.

Brown knew she wouldn’t be tricked by another changeup.

“She fooled me on the changeup beforehand, and then she threw a changeup again. I knew that it wasn’t happening again this time,” Brown said.

On the next pitch, Brown made history. She stuck her bat out to connect with the changeup and drove the ball toward left field.

“I didn’t think it was going to go over, but the softball gods are on my side,” Brown said.

As Brown went around the bases she knew she had just made history. As she rounded third base she saw her teammates.

“Everyone was there for me celebrating at home plate and it was a great feeling,” Brown said.

Her teammates waiting at home were just as happy as Brown was to enter the UNC softball record books.

“We all want each other to succeed and we knew that she was going to do that with her being a junior,” said sophomore outfielder and pitcher Kendra Lynch. “She’s going to set a pretty high milestone for that record.”

When Brown finally reached home plate, it became official: She was now UNC’s all-time leading home-run hitter. The home run was Brown’s 21st of the year — adding to her single season record — and the 44th of her career.

“I was here when Haleigh Dickey broke the record, but to have Kristen break it as a junior ... her ceiling is way up there,” Papa said.

Brown was also reminiscent of the program's past after making the record her own.

“Doing it in my junior season, especially when there have been so many amazing players in the Carolina program,” Brown said. “So being able to do that is a huge honor.”

Brown attributes a lot of her record to the experience she has gained playing for the Tar Heels for the past three seasons.

“As you get older, you get more experience, get more confident, and you maintain your composure,” Brown said.

With Brown being just a junior, there is no telling what the home run total will be by the end of her career.

sports@dailytarheel.com