University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Open NCAA Softball Action Thursday
May 16, 2001 | Softball
May 16, 2001
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Leading off
The North Carolina Tar Heels (37-17-1) are making their first appearance in the NCAA Softball Tournament. UNC, the third seed in Region 5 in Norman, Okla., reached the field of 48 via an at-large bid.
UNC will open play Thursday at 5 p.m. CT at OU Softball Complex against fourth-seeded Massachusetts (43-11). The format is double-elimination and one team from the regional will advnance on to the Women's College World Series May 24-28 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Quick facts on Carolina softball
Overall record: 37-17-1
ACC record: 6-2
Head coach: Donna Papa
Alma mater: Connecticut, 1979
Career record: 588-342-3 (18th year)
Record at UNC: 559-327-3 (16th year)
Assistant coaches: Beverly Smith, Lisa Navas
Head athletic trainer: Scott Oliaro
Graduate student athletic trainers: Cathy Brown, Erica Olson
Team captains: Natalie Anter, Beth Olen, Kelly Ramsey
Quick facts on UNC
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Founded: 1789 as the first state university
Enrollment: 24,189
Conference: Atlantic Coast
Affiliation: NCAA Division I
Chancellor: James Moeser
Director of Athletics: Dick Baddour
School colors: Carolina blue and white
Nickname: Tar Heels
Athletic department website: www.TarHeelBlue.com
UNC Athletic Communications
Softball contact: Dana Gelin
Phone/fax: (919) 962-0083/962-0612
Email: dgelin@uncaa.unc.edu
News to note
* UNC is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels received one of the 24 at-large bids into the field of 48.
* Just hours before the NCAA bids went out, Carolina reached another program milestone by winning its first Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. The Tar Heels defeated Florida State 4-1 in the title game in Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday afternoon.
* North Carolina currently ranks 10th in the NCAA in defense with a .973 fielding percentage.
* The Carolina roster includes one player from Oklahoma, senior pitcher Radara McHugh.
* UNC heads into the NCAA tournament on a 10-game winning streak. The Tar Heels have won 13 of their last 14 games.
* The Tar Heels already are familiar with OU Softball Complex, having played there during the Sooners' Worth Invitational March 9-11.
Milestone day for UNC softball
May 13 isn't a day the Carolina softball program will soon forget. That afternoon, the Tar Heels defeated Florida State 4-1 to win the first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in the history of the program. That evening, approximately four hours later, the team received a bid to the NCAA Tournament, also a first for UNC.
"This is huge for our program," UNC coach Donna Papa said after hearing the news. "It's been my dream as a coach for us to win the ACC Championship and go to NCAA Regionals. To have both happen in the same day is overwhelming."
Scouting the opposition
North Carolina, the third seed in Region 5, will open play against the fourth-seeded Massachusetts Minutewomen, 43-11 this season. UMass, which earned a tournament bid by winning the Atlantic 10 Conference, has won its last nine games and 36 of its last 38.
The Minutewomen are led at the plate by juniors Cherra Wheeler and Teri Rooney, both of whom are batting .338. Wheeler leads the team in home runs with six and RBI with 43. As a team, UMass is batting .282.
Splitting the pitching duties are Carrie Jeffries (12-4, 1.24 ERA, 78 strikeouts), Jennifer Hadley (19-6, 1.48 ERA, 130 strikeouts) and Kaila Holtz (12-1, 1.95 ERA, 73 strikeouts). Opponents are batting .206 against them.
The Minutewomen are coached by Elaine Sortino, a 1971 graduate of Oneonta State. Her assistants are Michelle Junod (Iowa State, 2000) and Danielle Henderson (UMass, 1999)
* The rest of Region 5 is made up of No. 1 seed Oklahoma (45-7 and the defending NCAA Champion), No. 2 Washington (37-21), No. 5 Seton Hall (29-14) and No. 6 seed Lehigh (38-13). Oklahoma is ranked fifth in the nation in the latest coaches' poll, Washington is 12th and Massachusetts is tied for 23rd.
Intersecting seasons
The Tar Heels and Minutewomen have had several common opponents during their 2001 seasons and have come away with common results in those games.
Both teams lost to Arizona State: UNC 2-0, UMass 5-1
Both teams beat Maryland: UNC 2-0 and 1-0, UMass 5-0
Both teams beat Rhode Island: UNC 1-0, UMass on five occasions, most recently 5-1 in the Atlantic 10 championship game.
Region 5 rundown
At OU Softball Complex in Norman, Okla.
(All times Central)
Thurs, May 17
Noon: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 Lehigh (Game 1)
2:30 p.m.: No 2. Washington vs. No. 5 Seton Hall (Game 2)
5 p.m.: No. 3 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Massachusetts (Game 3)
7:30 p.m.: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 (Game 4)
Fri., May 18
2:30 p.m.: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3 (Game 5)
5 p.m.: Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 (Game 6)
7:30 p.m.: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 1 (Game 7)
Sat., May 19
Noon: Game 8
2:30 p.m.: Game 9
7:30 p.m.: Game 10
Sun., May 20
1 p.m.: Game 11
3:30 p.m.: Game 12 if necessary
Looking back on the 2001 ACC Championship
For inspiration in Oklahoma, the Tar Heels can look back at their most recent tournament experience, which couldn't have gone much better. UNC won its first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference Championship last weekend at Walnut Creek Softball Complex in Raleigh, winning three consecutive games to take the title.
May 11: UNC 7, Virginia 3
The Tar Heels scored five runs in the first inning to take a comfortable lead they wouldn't give up. Dionne Streete went 3-for-4 at the plate, and Quinn Porter, Natalie Anter and Beth Olen had two hits each.
Radara McHugh took a no hitter into the fifth inning and gave up two hits. She struck out eight and walked five, giving up two earned runs.
May 12: UNC 2, Florida State 0
UNC had five hits to FSU's six, but the Tar Heels' were well-placed enough to score two runs. In the second inning, pinch runner Lauren Looper scored on an RBI single by Emily Price.
In the fifth, Streete scored on a double by Rosie Gustavson.
McHugh again earned the win, giving up six hits and striking out five in the shutout.
May 13: UNC 4, Florida State 1
Carolina took the lead for good with two runs in the top of the first inning on RBI singles by Anter and Olen. UNC got the rest of its runs in the sixth inning when Streete blasted a home run over the left field fence to score Price.
McHugh picked up a third win, scattering six hits and striking out eight.
* For the tournament, Streete led UNC at the plate, going 6-for-9 with a home run. Olen was 5-for-9 with two RBI, and Anter was 4-for-10 with three RBI.
* McHugh was voted tournament MVP. Joining her on the All-Tournament team were Natalie Anter, Beth Olen and Emily Price.
Going home
The trip to Oklahoma will provide a chance for senior pitcher Radara McHugh to wear a Carolina jersey in her home state one more time. McHugh is a native of Tulsa, Okla., approximately 90 miles from Norman, and attended Bixby High School, where she was an all-state pitcher and an all-conference center in basketball.
McHugh is the youngest of Robert and Rhonda McHugh's four children. She has a sister, Rachelle, and two brothers, Rhett and Raider. Raider plays football for Central Oklahoma.
Familiar territory
Radara McHugh isn't the only Tar Heel familiar with Oklahoma, both the state and the team. In March, the Tar Heels spent four days in Norman while playing in the OU Worth Invitational.
UNC was 3-1 in that tournament at OU Softball Complex, with wins over Southwest Missouri State (9-1, 6 inn.), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (10-2, 5 inn.), and Louisiana-Monroe (4-3) and a loss to the host Sooners (8-0, 6 inn.).
Carolina had one of only three multiple-home run games this season during the Worth Invitational. Against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, freshmen Dionne Streete and Emily Price both hit their first career home runs.
Goodbye to a successful group
When the season comes to an end, so will the careers of four Tar Heel players. During their four years in the program, Carrie Bates, Radara McHugh, Beth Olen and Michelle Semmes have been part of the one of the most successful eras in UNC softball history.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, the group has a career record of 156-77-1. Their squads have set a total of 10 single-season team records and two single-game team records. Members of this year's seniors class rank among the UNC career leaders in nearly every offensive, defensive and pitching category.
Making the plays
The Tar Heels currently rank 10th in the NCAA statistics with a fielding percentage of .973. If it holds up through the season, that mark will set a school record for single-season fielding percentage. The team's previous best was .969 in 1999.
Left fielder Emily Price leads the team's starters with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. First baseman Beth Olen is next at .997.
UNC and the Top 25
Although the Tar Heels haven't managed to break into the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 this season, they've seen plenty of the schools on that list up close.
UNC has played 14 games against teams that spent at least a week of the season ranked in the Top 25 and is 6-8 in those games. Those losses account for nearly half of the team's 17 defeats this season.
Carolina met many of its ranked opponents during tournaments in Oklahoma and California in March. At the Worth Invitational, UNC lost 8-0 to the host Sooners, then ranked fifth. At the Kia Klassic in Fullerton, Calif., UNC opened play against the host team, Cal State-Fullerton, and earned one of its most exciting win of the season. The Tar Heels defeated the No. 9 Titans 10-9 in eight innings.
In the same tournament, UNC went on to face No. 11 DePaul (L, 4-1), No. 10 Arizona State (L, 2-0), No. 2 Arizona (L, 6-1), and No. 7 Fresno State (L, 2-0).
The Tar Heels' other games against ranked teams were the season-opening doubleheader at No. 18 South Carolina (L, 1-0, W, 1-0) and five games against No. 17 Florida State (L, 2-0, L, 5-0, W, 3-2 in 8 innings, W, 2-0, W, 4-1). UNC also defeated Florida Atlantic 5-0 on April 7 in the Tar Heel Invitational. The Owls weren't ranked at the time of the matchup, but had spent the previous week at No. 25.
Radara rewriting record book
Senior pitcher Radara McHugh's UNC career is drawing to a close, but her name is likely to remain in the Carolina record books for years to come. Near the end of a fourth outstanding season, McHugh now holds nearly all of the program's career pitching records. This season, she has become the Tar Heels' all-time leader in appearances, starts, innings pitched, wins and strikeouts. Heading into the season, she already was the team's career leader in complete game shutouts.
McHugh also holds single-season records for appearances (44 in 1999), innings pitched (261 in 1999), starts (40 in 1999), wins (26 in 1999) and complete game shutouts (16 in 2000).
eginning in the first game of the season, she put together a streak of 48.1 scoreless innings to establish a school record in that category.
She heads into the NCAA Tournament with a 23-10 record and an ERA of 0.93, the lowest of her career. She pitched all three ACC Tournament games as the Tar Heels swept to their first title.
Something in the Water(bury)
Waterbury, Conn., the hometown of UNC coach Donna Papa, is well-represented in this year's NCAA Tournament. Three coaching staffs in this year's field include Waterbury natives.
Joan Joyce is the head coach at Florida Atlantic, the No. 3 seed in Region 8 in Tallahassee, Fla.
Pat Conlan is an assistant coach at Connecticut, which is the No. 5 seed in Tallahassee.
And Papa has led the Tar Heels to their first NCAA appearance and a No. 3 seed in Region 5.
All three Waterbury products coaches their teams to conference championships, Joyce in the Trans America, Conlan in the Big East and Papa in the Atlantic Coast.
NCAA experience on staff
None of this year's Tar Heels have played in the NCAA Tournament, but one member of the staff is quite familiar with the routine. Lisa Navas, a first-year assistant coach, served as head coach at Barry University for the past nine seasons and twice led her team to the NCAA Division II Women's Collegiate World Series. Barry finished fifth in 1994 and as the national runner-up in 1998.
Not only is Navas familiar with the NCAA Tournament, she's familiar with the area in which the Tar Heels will participate. She played at Oklahoma City University, where in 1986 her team finished second in the NAIA.
Semmes leaves her mark
As classmate Radara McHugh etches her name in the UNC's pitching books, senior shortstop Michelle Semmes is closing in on or has already captured many of the team's offensive records. She owns the program mark for career total bases and during the ACC Tournament became UNC's all-time leader in hits. Her career total currently stands at 236.
After four years as the team's starter at shortstop, she is tied for the career record for assists with 431.
Semmes also ranks among the program's career leaders in batting average, runs scored, at bats, doubles, home runs and RBI.
Anter owns home run mark
Although just a junior, Natalie Anter already holds UNC's career home runs record with a total of 19. Anter began the season with a total of 17, tied with former Tar Heel Crystal Henderson. She homered in back-to-back games against East Carolina on April 18 and Georgia Tech on April 21 to make the mark hers alone.
One-swing scoring
Carolina players have totaled 19 home runs this season, down significantly from last season's school-record 35. The ones UNC has hit, however, have provided plenty of drama.
Most recently, freshman Dionne Streete hit a two-run homer in the ACC Championship game to give the Tar Heels a 4-1 lead they'd take to the title. The home run was Streete's second of the season, the first came at OU softball complex against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Freshman Emily Price also hit her first career home run in that game, marking the first of three times this season that the Tar Heels have hit multiple home runs in a game.
The peak their productivity came in the second half of a doubleheader at Liberty on April 11, when Carolina players had three home runs, two grand slams and one a three-run shot. In the third inning of that game, pitcher Michael Parrott followed up a three-run homer by Michelle Semmes with the first grand slam of her career. The Tar Heels led 8-0 in the fifth inning when Price added another slam, also a career first.
In addition to two grand slams this season, UNC batters have hit three three-run shots, seven two-run homers and seven solo blasts.
New home under construction
The Tar Heels played their final season at Finley Field in 2001 and will move to new quarters prior to next season. The new complex, located at the edge of the UNC campus just off of Highway 54, is under construction and should be ready for play by this fall.
The complex will provide the Carolina softball team with a facility that mirrors the high-quality facilities already established and available to student-athletes in other sports at UNC. In addition, the facility will hold its own against the softball complexes at other schools in the conference and across the nation.
Price is right
In her first season at UNC, freshman Emily Price wasted no time in carving out a place in the starting lineup. Although projected as an infielder, Price has started 34 games in left field this season and has not made an error there.
During the course of the season, Price also has made starts in center, as second and at shortstop. Her batting average of .310 is second highest on the team and she ranks third with a slugging percentage of .450.
The numbers are nothing new for Price, however. At Eisenhower High in Decatur, Ill., she had a career .502 batting average and did not commit an error during her junior or senior seasons.
Neon Dionne
Freshman Dionne Streete is coming off an outstanding weekend of play at the ACC Championship, where she batted 6-for-9 (.667) over the three games. Highlighting her offensive performance was a two-run homer in the sixth inning of the championship game. The blast was her second of the season.
She went into the tournament with a batting average of .219 and came out hitting .247.
Streete has made 50 starts this season (37 at second, 12 at third and one at designated player) and has played in all but four games. For the season, she has 14 RBI and a slugging percentage of .301.
Speed on the basepaths
Two freshmen have taken over as the team's fastest players and appear regularly as pinch runners.
Lauren Looper has appeared in 43 games this season as UNC's top pinch runner. She has made one start at designated player.
Natashalyn Snipes has started 22 games (15 in center, three in left, two in right and two at designated player) and appeared in 31. In addition to helping the team on the basepaths, she's batting just below 300 (.295), fifth among regular players.
Leading the team
Three Tar Heels share team captain responsibilities this season. Senior Beth Olen, junior Natalie Anter and junior Kelly Ramsey serve as tri-captains for the team. Ramsey also was a captain as a sophomore.
