University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Travels To Maryland For Regular Season Finale
April 25, 2003 | Softball
April 25, 2003
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The University of North Carolina softball team will try and reach the 40-win plateau this Saturday, April 26 versus Atlantic Coast Conference foe Maryland in College Park, Md. The conference doubleheader is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. will be the regular season finale for the Tar Heels who stand at 38-17-1, 3-2 ACC. The Terrapins enter this weekend with an overall record of 17-15 and 0-6 in the ACC.
The Tar Heels are winners of 28 of their last 33 games and continue to be one of the hottest teams in the ACC. UNC currently ranks second in the league with a .281 batting average and 30th in the nation with a staff ERA of 1.46. Carolina is hitting .248 and has an ERA of 1.32 in ACC competition. The Terrapins rank last in hitting (.229) and fourth in ERA (1.90) in the conference.
Senior Tiffany Tolleson (Winter Haven, Fla.) and freshmen Crystal Cox (Harrisburg, N.C.) and Jaclyn Holden (Santa Clarita, Calif.) are having great individual seasons for the Tar Heels. Tolleson ranks fourth in the nation with 0.75 stolen bases per game and needs only 10 more to become the all-time career stolen base leader (196). She is hitting .425 which is 25th best in NCAA Division I.
Cox is the reigning ACC Player of the Week after going 4-1 last week, including a win over ninth-ranked Georgia. She held the Bulldogs to two unearned runs in 15 innings pitched. Cox is 23-9 on the season and ranks 10th in the nation in victories, 17th in ERA (0.85) and 20th in saves (3). She has 224 strikeouts in 189.1 innings pitched and had not allowed an earned run in 28.1 straight innings.
Holden is closing in on the UNC record book for a single season needing only one more double to tie the school record of 22 and three more home runs to tie the school record of 15. Holden ranks ninth in the country averaging 0.39 doubles per game and ranks second on the Carolina squad with a .398 batting average. She leads the ACC in doubles (21), home runs (12), RBIs (46) and slugging percentage (.783).
The Tar Heels will travel to Tallahassee, Fla. for the ACC Tournament May 9-11. UNC has appeared in the last two finals of the tournament claiming its first title in 2001.
