University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Softball Back Home On Wednesday
March 26, 2002 | Softball
March 26, 2002
After more than a month of playing on the road, the North Carolina softball team returns to UNC Softball Complex Wednesday for a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader with Tennessee-Chattanooga. UNC's last home games--and the only ones so far at the team's new complex--were on Feb. 23, when the Tar Heels swept South Carolina.
Chattanooga is 20-8 on the season and coming off a 2-1 win over Ohio State, a team that beat UNC 6-3 in eight innings in the Buzz Classic championship game Sunday. Freshman Melissa Ramirez leads the Lady Mocs at the plate, batting .424 with a .652 slugging percentage. The team's top pitcher is senior Beth Alexander (13-2, 0.79 ERA)
Falling records:
-- Senior Natalie Anter is now the proud owner of the UNC record for career RBI. Anter started the season with a career total of 120 and had 21 through March 24, passing the previous record of 137 by Beverly Smith (1991-94), who is now a UNC assistant coach.
-- Anter already held the program's career record for home runs and now has a total of 26. With seven this spring, she's closing in on the school single-season mark of 10 (Lorin Slade, 1996).
-- With a career total of 216 games played, Anter now ranks third in school history. Beth Olen is first with 237, followed by Beverly Smith with 226.
-- Just 34 games into the season, Tiffany Tolleson has already smashed the school single-season record for stolen bases. The old mark was 33, by Robyn Coombs in 1996. Through the games of March 24, Tolleson had 40 steals in 43 attempts.
News and notes:
-- Junior Quinn Porter leads the team in RBI this season with 26, more than she had in her first two seasons combined. She has four home runs this season, including two in a single game against Michigan State on March 23, and is batting a career-best .324, third on the team.
-- Several players hit their first career home runs during last weekend's Buzz Classic. Senior outfielder Rosie Gustavson's two-run shot against Ohio State in the tournament championship was her first. Earlier that day, junior Anna Tharrington logged her first in a dramatic way, with a grand slam in the second inning of an 8-1 win over Mercer. Freshman Erica Ennis hit her first homer in the sixth inning of UNC's game over Michigan State. Hers was the third home run of the inning, following shots by Quinn Porter and Kelly Ramsey.
-- Junior Anna Tharrington was named to the all-tournament team at last weekend's Buzz Classic. She started six games at catcher and played in all seven, batting .308 with six RBI.
-- As a team, UNC has 23 home runs this season, already four more than all of last year. The team record for homers in a season is 35, by the 2000 team.
-- From the second game of the Furman doubleheader on March 21 to the semifinal game of the Buzz Classic on March 24, the Tar Heels put together a season-long seven-game winning streak.
