Tar Heels fall one strike short, allow four seventh-inning runs in loss to Pirates

All they needed was a strike.

After watching North Carolina softball starting pitcher Kaylee Carlson allow four singles to the first six batters in the seventh inning of Thursday’s game — converting a 3-0 lead to just a one-run advantage — reliever Lauren Fuller took the mound.

After intentionally walking the first batter she saw, Fuller was staring at a full count with the bases loaded. And with two outs on the ledger, she knew she needed just one more strike to stop the bleeding.

So the junior pitcher threw the payoff pitch — and the batter simply watched the ball.

“(Fuller) really did her job,” Coach Donna Papa said. “The ball went right across the plate.

“And it was called a ball instead of a strike.”

The called ball, which confused both the Tar Heels and the fans in attendance, walked home the tying run for ECU. And when the very next pitch was sent into left field, the Tar Heels (34-12, 15-4 ACC) saw their three-run lead officially evaporate, falling 4-3 to the Pirates (14-35).

“Sometimes, the umpire makes a call,” Papa said. “It’s unfortunate because it was, in many people’s eyes, a strike.”

Papa wasn’t alone in her frustration, as the players in the dugout could hardly believe the final call.

“It really looked like a strike,” said junior Aquilla Mateen, who led the team with two hits. “With a full count, two outs, I know that she’s not going to pitch a ball. It looked like a perfect strikeout pitch to me.”

Yet, despite the controversial outcome of the penultimate at-bat, Papa was disappointed with her team’s effort in the final frame.

“It didn’t come down just to that moment,” she said. “When you have a 3-0 lead going into the seventh inning, you should be able to close the deal and win the game.

“It wasn’t like we only had a one-run lead — we had a three-run lead. We can get three outs.”

Coming into the seventh inning, Carlson had not allowed a run and had conceded just five hits all game. But the Tar Heels had mustered just five hits of their own, a far cry from their recent offensive outbursts.

“We just didn’t get enough hits at the right time,” Papa said. “All the way around, we just played average in my opinion. We didn’t play like a team that was hungry, we didn’t play tough enough and that part is really disappointing.”

Amber Parrish — whose sixth inning infield single drove in the team’s only RBI via hit — felt a midweek game during the final week of classes posed a mental struggle for some of the players.

“The energy wasn’t completely there for the whole game,” said the senior catcher. “You could definitely tell that some of our minds might have been elsewhere.”

The players’ distant mindset frustrated Papa, who cited her team’s lack of focus as detrimental to the final outcome.

“You’ve got to come every day and bring it,” Papa said. “It doesn’t matter who your opponent is, you can’t take a day off.

“I don’t think we’ve lost a game like that all year, so (it was) very, very disappointing.”

Despite the loss, the Tar Heels are focused on a critical ACC series against Notre Dame this weekend, UNC’s last matchup before the ACC Tournament.

“It’s really frustrating and really annoying, but we have more games to play,” Mateen said. “We can’t let this determine the rest of our season.

“I hope a lot of us take it to heart.”

sports@dailytarheel.com