Cold and miserable.
Those words could describe not only the weather conditions during North Carolina softball’s home opener Thursday against No. 25 South Carolina Upstate but also the Tar Heels’ offensive performance in a 1-0 loss.
In 22 at-bats, UNC recorded only one hit. The team had 21 Sunday against Virginia Tech.
“We weren’t very disciplined at the plate,” coach Donna Papa said. “I never thought that we would be beat by one run.”
With the loss, the Tar Heels drop to 8-9 overall. The start time of the game was moved an hour earlier in an attempt to avoid the approaching icy rain conditions, however, the drops started to fall shortly after the first pitch. This was UNC’s fourth attempt to play its home opener as weather postponed two games in February and Tuesday’s game against Presbyterian.
“There’s nothing we could have done to prepare for it,” said sophomore second baseman Erin Satterfield . “It’s mostly mental, everything about the weather is mental. You have to make sure each play you’re securing the ball.”
After three quick outs in the first inning, the Spartans struck in the second with three consecutive hits that brought in a runner for the game’s only score. Senior pitcher Lori Spingola shut down from there, though, throwing two straight strikeouts and allowing three hits the rest of the game.
“Lori was outstanding,” Papa said. “She pitched well enough to win, bottom line. It’s unfortunate we didn’t do enough to support her offensively.”
Spingola shut down the Spartans’ leading hitter, junior Shellie Robinson. The junior centerfielder, who had a batting average of nearly .500 heading into the game, had no hits in four at-bats. Spingola finished the game with six strikeouts.
