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The Daily Tar Heel

UNC softball ends Big Ten/ACC Challenge with 9-2 win over Illinois

The UNC softball team took on Illinois in their opening seeking Sunday afternoon for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
The UNC softball team took on Illinois in their opening seeking Sunday afternoon for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

The North Carolina softball team’s bats came alive on Sunday in the fifth and sixth innings, giving UNC a much-needed 9-2 victory over Illinois at Anderson Softball Stadium. 

The win left the Tar Heels with a 2-2 record for the weekend in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge after they lost both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday. 

Illinois (5-4) opened the scoring with an RBI single by Remeny Perez in the fourth inning, giving the team a 1-0 lead. That lead lasted all of a few minutes before UNC (4-6) turned its focus to the plate. Tracy Chandless evened the score for North Carolina with a leadoff solo home run to start the fifth inning. 

“I think when Tracy got that home run, that was big,” Coach Donna Papa said. “Once that door opens, it’s like everybody breathes.” 

The Tar Heels strung together seven hits in the fifth inning. Senior Aquilla Mateen’s RBI double gave UNC a 2-1 lead before two-time All-ACC first-team shortstop Kristen Brown launched a two-run home run into the trees behind the left field fence. 

First-year Berlynne Delamora added an RBI single to give North Carolina a 5-1 lead, one the Tar Heels would not relinquish. 

Brown added more insurance runs with a three-run home run in the game’s sixth inning, extending UNC’s lead to 8-1. 

“I decided to stay off the plate and if anything came in, I was going to turn on it more,” the senior said. “If anything was close, I was going to attack it.”

Pitcher Kendra Lynch bounced back from a disappointing performance on Saturday, earning the win with a complete-game two-run outing. The win improved Lynch’s record to 3-3 in her seventh start. 

“I might have been a little bit more fresh,” Lynch said about her improvement after a loss the day before. “Mentally I was more ready to go out there and compete.”

Lynch was more excited about what the win meant to UNC as a whole.

“Overall, it was a really good team win,” the junior said. “The team needed it and it felt really good to go out and throw for the team.”

Quotable

“We made some of the plays that we needed to make today. That was the difference.” — Papa on the Tar Heels’ success on Sunday after two losses the day before.

Notable

The Big Ten as a whole won the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a 20-12 record over the course of the weekend. Of the eight ACC teams participating, only Syracuse finished the weekend with a winning record, going 3-1. UNC begins conference play against Syracuse on March 12. 

Three numbers that matter

12: UNC had 12 total batters reach base during the fifth and sixth innings, including three home runs. North Carolina had no hits before Chandless’ solo home run to lead off the fifth inning. 

5: Brown’s pair of home runs against Illinois give her five so far this season. The senior hit 24 a season ago and has 52 for her career, the most in Tar Heel softball history. 

4: Lynch’s complete-game win marked her fourth complete game of the season in seven starts. 

What’s next?

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The Tar Heels will face UNC-Greensboro at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday in Greensboro.

sports@dailytarheel.com