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The Daily Tar Heel

Softball swept in weekend series

In three games at Anderson Stadium, the North Carolina softball team showed off its firepower with 17 runs on 25 hits in one of the team’s most complete offensive showings of the season. 

But it was not quite enough for the Tar Heels (15-17, 3-6 ACC), as No. 11 Florida State (26-3, 6-0 ACC) scored 36 runs on 37 hits to sweep the Tar Heels, taking Game 1 on Friday 15-6 and the doubleheader on Saturday 9-6 and 12-5. 

“We lost all three games, and that stinks,” Coach Donna Papa said. “But I do think we’re making progress to where we want to be.” 

UNC was lead out of the batter’s box by seniors Aquilla Mateen and Kristen Brown, who combined to go 10-20 in the three games with a pair of doubles and a triple between the two players. Sophomore Taylor Wike also turned in a fine weekend at the plate, going 4-10 with a two-run home run in the second game. 

Coach Papa was pleased her team was not intimidated facing redshirt junior Jessica Burroughs, a two-time All-ACC second team selection, in the first and last games, as the Tar Heels knocked her for five earned runs throughout the weekend. 

Quotable

“If you lose the fight, you lose the fight. We didn’t lose that and that’s something I feel like we haven’t had in some of our previous games. I feel like we will have that moving forward. That’s something for us to build on.” — Papa on her team’s motivation throughout the weekend. 

Notable

Mateen moved into fifth all time on in career stolen bases on Friday, passing Tisha Mahon with 58 career steals. Mateen has 14 steals this season. 

Three numbers that matter

25: The Tar Heels left a total of 25 runners on base in the series, resulting in missed opportunities to score runs. 

20: First year Destiny DeBerry has stolen 20 bases this season after adding five more to her tally this weekend. She’s currently ninth all time at UNC for stolen bases in a season. 

14: The Tar Heels walked a total of 14 FSU batters this weekend, including three lead off walks. 

What’s next?

UNC takes on USC-Upstate at home on Tuesday, March 29. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. 

@sjdoughton

sports@dailytarheel.com

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