After the gray skies and bitterly cold winds that have dominated the Chapel Hill weather reports lately, a Floridian spring break is looking better and better every day.
A taste of that break came early for the North Carolina softball team this weekend when it traveled to Clermont, Fla., for the National Invitational Tournament.
However, this weekend in Florida didn’t involve any lounging on the beach as the Tar Heels, ranked second in the ACC preseason coach’s poll, played four games during the course of the two-day tournament. The Tar Heels, coached by hall-of-famer Donna Papa, found success in Florida, winning all four contests.
The first of these games was on Friday against the North Florida Ospreys.
UNC got on the board early with runs from Ally Blake and Haleigh Dickey to put it ahead by three. While North Florida did not give up another run, a two-hit, 13-strikeout game from sophomore pitcher Lori Spingola meant the Ospreys remained scoreless and ensured a final 3-0 shutout victory for the Tar Heels.
The second game on Friday was against Florida Atlantic. Despite the fact that UNC is 4-7 all-time against Florida Atlantic, the Tar Heels made a strong showing. UNC got ahead by five before allowing the Owls to score.
Although UNC gave up three runs, it was able to keep the gap between the two teams wide by manufacturing three more runs itself, winning with a final score of 8-3.
UNC’s third game of the tournament against Chattanooga started off in spectacular fashion with back-to-back-to-back home runs from Kelli Wheeler, Ally Blake and Logan Foulks. It was Blake’s second home run in the last two games.
Wheeler, Blake and Foulks all managed to score again, and that, combined with runs from Kelsey Green, Amy Nece and Lauren Walker put the Tar Heels up 10-0, which lasted until the end of the game.
