When North Carolina softball ace Lori Spingola strides to the circle, her hips swaying with her distinctive, confident gait, two thoughts occur simultaneously.
Woe for the opposition — good for the Tar Heels.
Those thoughts held true Sunday. Spingola capped a marvelous weekend with a complete-game gem, surrendering just two hits and striking out seven in a 2-1 win against Virginia.
“A two-hitter — you can’t ask for much more than that,” coach Donna Papa said.
Spingola (21-10) took the mound after logging 10 innings in Saturday’s doubleheader — a complete game in the first game and three innings of scoreless relief in the second.
“I don’t think she looked tired at all on the mound, inning one through seven,” Papa said.
Sophomore catcher Amber Parrish plated UNC’s only runs of the game with a two-run double in the first inning and had a front-row seat to yet another gem from Spingola.
“Lori’s a quality pitcher,” Papa said. “She brings that confidence. She’s done very well in our ACC outings.
Spingola has given the Tar Heels the luxury of competing in — and winning — low-scoring games. UVa. (16-19, 3-9 ACC) cooled the Tar Heels’ hot bats, but Spingola’s lifted UNC (31-13, 9-3 ACC) to a series sweep.
“Certainly you want to score more runs and have a little more breathing room,” Papa said, “but I think we’ve shown that we can hold a one-run lead, and that’s going to help us down the road, too. It’s good to score a lot of runs, but it’s also good to have that pressure of ‘Hey, we need to make sure we’re making our plays and being clean with our plays.’
“I think that’s good for our team.”
As is having Spingola, a rubber-armed ace who spells doom for opposing hitters and, her coach said, remains the life-blood of her team.
“A lot of times, when she goes, we go,” Papa said.
Spingola’s weekend went great. So did North Carolina’s.
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