The North Carolina softball team defeated Boston College, 6-0, on Thursday afternoon at Dail Stadium in Raleigh in the first round of the ACC Softball Championship.
What Happened?
For five full frames, not much of anything happened. Pitchers Kendra Lynch of North Carolina (31-22) and Jessica Dreswick of Boston College (30-23) kept hitters guessing and kept runs off the board in the first five innings of the game.
Both teams had chances, most notably Boston College in the bottom of the fourth. With two on and one out, Lynch was in a bit of trouble. But, she got Chloe Sharabba to line into the waiting glove of shortstop Kristen Brown, who promptly flipped the ball to third baseman Berlynne Delamora for the inning-ending double play. Lynch pinpointed that play as the one that flipped the momentum to the Tar Heels’ side.
“That saved the game, I think,” Lynch said. “That gave the momentum back to us and I think we kind of stayed with it and kept it the rest of the game, so that was definitely a game-changing play for sure.”
It wasn’t until the sixth inning, with the momentum on their side, that the Tar Heels broke through, scoring six runs to put away the game.
“In the early innings, we didn’t connect and make it happen,” Coach Donna Papa said. “But the one thing about this team is I feel like we’ve been very resilient all season and we just kept working and working and working and when we got some opportunities later, we got it done.”
The Tar Heels finished with 10 hits to Boston College’s four, improving their record to 21-1 when they outhit their opponent.