UNC softball takes weekend series at Boston College

The North Carolina softball team came into this weekend riding high after topping No. 10 Georgia 2-1 in extra innings on Wednesday, and turned that momentum into a weekend series win against ACC-foe Boston College, 6-2, 4-3, 2-5. 

Though UNC (22-19, 7-8 ACC) started slowly, they caught fire late in the first game of this weekend’s series against the Eagles. 

With Boston College (20-15, 4-5 ACC) leading 2-0 in the top of the sixth inning, Kendra Lynch stepped to the plate and smacked a two-run home run to even the score. It was her ninth of the season and changed the momentum for the entire day. 

“When somebody does something like that, it just lets everybody breathe. It gave us some important runs and it was a big hit for sure,” said Coach Donna Papa. 

Moments later, first-year Leah Murray stole second, causing an error by Boston College’s catcher. This opened the door for senior Erin Satterfield to score, giving the Tar Heels their first lead at 3-2. 

Senior Lauren Fuller would seal the game for North Carolina in the final inning, blasting a three-run home run to push the score to 6-2. 

UNC carried this momentum into the second game of Saturday’s double-header.

Senior shortstop Kristen Brown opened the scoring of game two with a two-run home run in the top of the third inning, her 14th home run of the season and 61st of her career. 

Boston College worked to even the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning, but the Tar Heels reasserted themselves in the fifth. 

Senior Aquilla Mateen stole home to put UNC back on top and sophomore Taylor Wike added insurance when she scored off a wild pitch to make the score 4-2. UNC would go on to a 4-3 victory, improving to 2-0 on the day. 

Sunday was not as kind to those donning Carolina blue.

Though the Tar Heels were connecting with the ball, each would-be hit seemed to land in the glove of an Eagle. UNC amassed only two runs on the day, both coming in the second inning, where it also left the bases loaded. North Carolina dropped the final game of the series 5-2. 

The Tar Heels have now won seven of their last nine games, and find themselves in fourth in ACC with nine regular-season conference games left. 

Quotable

“It is really important that we don’t get too high after a big win. We have to come back down and take it one game at a time, and one opponent at a time. We have to remember to do the little things right to get the win. So we try to never get too high or too low, and to just play our game.” — Lynch on her team’s success of late.

Notable

Papa attributed much of the recent success to her pitchers. Lynch has had a solid season, but she was forced to carry most of the load when Sydney Matzko suffered on injury earlier this season. Lauren Fuller has since picked up time in the pitching circle and has grown more comfortable as the season has progressed. Papa said that the pair of Lynch and Fuller complement each other nicely, and that has been the big lift for the team of late.

Three numbers that matter

2: Fuller earned her second win as a pitcher this season in the second game of the series. 

3: Boston College errors, all of which came in game one of the series. UNC only had one in the series' three games. 

4: The Tar Heels hit four home runs in the two games on Saturday. 

What’s next?

The Tar Heels return to Chapel Hill to face ECU at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. 

@yonahdagalosi

sports@dailytarheel.com