University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Earn Top Seed in ACC Softball Tournament
April 24, 2000 | Softball
April 24, 2000
By virtue of one of the finest softball seasons in school history, North Carolina has earned the top seed in the 2000 ACC Softball Tournament, which begins Saturday at Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. The Tar Heels open play at 5 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the tournament's first game, which pits No. 4 Virginia and No. 5 Georgia Tech against each other at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The ACC Championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Monday.
Because not all of the schools have finished their regular-season conference schedule, the seedings were based on a formula that took into account ACC winning percentage, overall winning percentage, winning percentage in regional play and winning percentage against ranked teams. After UNC, Maryland is seeded second and FSU is third.
At 45-15 overall, the Tar Heels already have tied the 1992 UNC team (45-18) for most wins in a season since Carolina switched to fastpitch play in 1984. UNC has broken school single-season records for hits (503), home runs (34) and total bases (708).
Throughout the season, the Tar Heels have ranked among the nation's leaders in batting average. Currently, UNC is batting .320 as a team, led by junior Michelle Semmes at .382. Carolina's top pitcher is junior Radara McHugh, who is 22-5 this season with a 1.07 ERA.
2000 Atlantic Coast Conference Softball Tournament
At Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla.
Double elimination
Saturday, April 29
Game 1: No. 4 Virginia vs. No. 5 Georgia Tech, 1 p.m.
Game 2: No. 2 Maryland vs. No. 3 Florida State, 3 p.m.
Game 3: No. 1 North Carolina vs. Game 1 winner, 5 p.m.
Sunday, April 30
Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 5: Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 5 p.m.
Monday, May 1
Game 7: Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 winner, 11 a.m.
Game 8, Championship: Game 5 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 1 p.m.
(If the Game 5 winner loses Game 8, the teams will meet again in Game 9 at 3:30 p.m. for the championship.)
