University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Softball 1999 Season Review
August 19, 1999 | Softball
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Natalie Anter made the All-ACC Team in 1999
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Leading off
Post-season Honors
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Academic Success
Senior right fielder Colleen Lefferts' hard work in the classroom earned her spots on the GTE Academic All-America District team, the ACC Honor Roll and the Dean's List. Senior Megan Smith, sophomore Beth Olen and freshman Sarah Young also were named to the ACC Honor Roll.
Papa tops 500
With a 2-0 win at East Carolina on April 21, the Tar Heels earned coach Donna Papa the 500th win of her 16-year career. She is now 504-308-2 in 14 years at North Carolina and two at Susquehanna. Her record with the Tar Heels is 468-293-2.
Papa, a 1979 graduate of the University of Connecticut, played four seasons with the Huskies. She served as an assistant coach at St. John's and UNC-Greensboro before moving into the top job at Susquehanna, where she also coached volleyball.
At Carolina, she has twice earned ACC Coach of the Year honors. This season marks the third time her UNC teams have earned 40 or more wins in a season.
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Megan Smith (pictured) and Colleen Lefferts are the sole departing seniors.
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A tale of two seasons
The Tar Heels struggled against tough competition early in the season and were 11-13 upon returning from the National Invitational Softball Tournament in mid-March. Back in Chapel Hill, however, UNC won its next eight games and 13 of its next 14. Through the rest of the season the Tar Heels were 29-7 and lost back-to-back games just twice, in an April doubleheader at Maryland and in the ACC Tournament.
UNC in the ACC Tournament
Carolina entered as the No. 3 seed in the ACC Softball Tournament, after finishing the season tied for third place in the conference with Virginia. The two teams posted identical 4-4 ACC records and after the standard tie-breaking procedures failed to differentiate the two, a blind draw was used.
UNC opened play against the host Seminoles May 14. Natalie Anter's second-inning home run gave the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead they carried into the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, FSU's Danielle Cox hit an inside-the-park home run to right field to tie the game. In the bottom of the tenth, it was Cox who again made the difference for her team. She led off the inning with a triple to right and was sacrificed home with the winning run.
Drained by the emotional loss, the Tar Heels played Georgia Tech the following afternoon and were eliminated from the tournament by a 6-2 loss.
Florida State went on to claim the tournament title.
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Players of the Week March 8: Radara McHugh (pitcher) March 22: Natalie Anter (player) March 22: Erin Joseph (pitcher) April 5: Natalie Anter (player) *Batted .538 for the week with all four RBI in a 4-2 win over Campbell April 12: Michelle Semmes (player) April 26: Radara McHugh (pitcher)
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Against the ACC in 1999
UNC finished the eight-game conference slate at 4-4, tied with Virginia for third place. The Tar Heels split with Virginia in Chapel Hill on April 3 and 4, split with Florida State in Chapel Hill on April 9, were swept at Maryland on April 18 and swept two from Georgia Tech in Atlanta on April 24 and 25.
North Carolina and Virginia also faced off in a non-conference game on March 5, with UNC winning 9-1.
1999 ACC results:
4/3 UNC d. Virginia, 4-2
4/4 Virginia d. UNC, 4-3
4/9 UNC d. Florida State, 6-0
4/9 Florida State d. UNC, 8-3
4/18 Maryland d. UNC, 9-3
4/18 Maryland d. UNC, 5-4
4/24 UNC d. Georgia Tech, 4-2
4/25 UNC d. Georgia Tech, 7-5
Seventh-inning dramatics
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Michelle Semmes was third in the NCAA with a .351 batting average.
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Several of Carolina's ACC games featured heart-stopping endings.
On April 18 at Maryland, in the second game of a doubleheader, Kelly Ramsey hit a two-run homer in the top of the seventh to put UNC up 4-2 heading into Maryland's final at-bat. The Terps managed to load the bases with no outs then scored three runs on singles by Kiesha Pickeral and Fawna Lackovic to win 5-4.
On April 25 at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets led 5-1 heading into the seventh inning. UNC scored two runs on a walk and a single to narrow the margin to 5-3. With two outs, sophomore Michelle Semmes stepped to the plate and hit a grand slam to center field. Carolina won the game 7-5.
Record-breaking Radara
Pitcher Radara McHugh followed her 1998 ACC Rookie of the Year season with an equally impressive sophomore campaign. In 1999, she set UNC season highs for appearances (44), games started (40), innings pitched (261.0) and wins (26). She is on pace to set UNC career marks in each of those categories.
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Radara McHugh had a 2.09 ERA in 1999. Good for sixth in the NCAA.
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Home run happy
The Tar Heels set a team single-season record for home runs with 27 in 1999. The previous best was 25, in 1996. Last season, UNC totaled just 17.
Freshman Natalie Anter leds the team with eight, followed by junior Crystal Henderson with six and sophomore Michelle Semmes with five.
Carolina's home run total ranked second in the ACC last season to Maryland, which has hit 39.
Captains at the helm
This 1999 team captains were seniors Colleen Lefferts and Megan Smith. Lefferts, the team's right fielder, played in all 62 games. She batted .295 and finished the season with a fielding percentage of 1.000. Lefferts was honored with the Athletic Director's Scholar-Athlete award for the fourth time in her career.
Smith played third base and batted .248. She finished the season with 19 RBI.
High-octane offense
Carolina offensive output set several team records. The team's 488 hits is a program high, edging the 1996 team's 466 hits. The 1999 team scored 294 runs, bettering the previous best of 291, also by the 1996 team.
Wearing out the base paths
The Tar Heels' total of 85 stolen bases (106 attempts) topped the previous UNC team best of 79 (102 attempts) in 1996. For the third season in a row, junior outfielder Crystal Henderson led the team in steals. Her 28 (in 29 attempts) in 1999 brought her career total to 59. She now stands just 14 short of the UNC record of 73 (90 attempts), held by Sonya Bright, who played from 1990-93.
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Head coach Donna Papa and the Tar Heels have high expectation for 2000 and beyond.
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The future's so bright
With right fielder Colleen Lefferts and third basemen Megan Smith the sole departing seniors (Jen Klesaris expects to play another year after receiving a medical redshirt), Carolina will return plenty of experience for 2000. The Tar Heels' top six hitters are all underclassmen, and three of those are freshmen.
California girls
In 1999, UNC boasted as many players from the state of California (five) as from the state of North Carolina. All of the West Coast imports were freshmen and sophomores and made important contributions to the ?99 team.
