University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Seek Second ACC Championship In Softball
May 7, 2003 | Softball
May 7, 2003
UNC Game Notes
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The University of North Carolina softball team ended the regular season 29-5-1 over its last 36 games and had an overall record of 39-18-1. The Tar Heels finished 4-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference which gave them a two seed heading into the tournament hosted by No. 10 Florida State Friday, May 9 through Sunday, May 11. UNC will face three seed Georgia Tech at 5 p.m. on Friday at the Seminole Softball Complex.
Carolina finished the season ranked 20th in NCAA Division I with an ERA of 1.45. The Tar Heels hit .282 as a team which ranked them second in the ACC and slugged 37 home runs (39 UNC record) tops in the conference. The Tar Heel pitchers held opponents to a .181 batting average and has not allowed more than two runs in their last 10 outings.
The Yellow Jackets were swept by FSU in Atlanta, Ga., to end the season 35-21. Georgia Tech upset No. 17 Alabama in one of two games and fell to Carolina in Atlanta earlier this season 3-1 (4/17). UNC rallied in the seventh inning scoring three runs courtesy of a two-out base hit by freshman Jaclyn Holden (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and a two-run home run by junior short stop Emily Price (Decatur, Ill.) off the Ramblin Wreck's Jessica Sallinger for the victory.
Georgia Tech ranks last in the ACC with a .232 team batting average and fourth with a staff ERA of 1.69. Sallinger leads the league in strikeouts averaging 10.04 per seven innings.
UNC is led by senior Tiffany Tolleson (Winter Haven, Fla.), Price and freshmen Crystal Cox (Harrisburg, N.C.) and Holden. Tolleson led the ACC in hits (76), stolen bases (43) and ranked second in the league with a .420 batting average (27th in NCAA). She needs only four more stolen bases to take over the career NCAA lead of 196.
Cox finished 10th in the NCAA with a 0.86 ERA and tied for 13th with 24 wins. She ranks second all-time in school history in wins, strikeouts (239) and sixth in ERA for a single-season. Cox ended the year 24-10 and 4-3 in the ACC. She led the league with 41 punch outs in ACC competition.
Holden had a tremendous first year for the Tar Heels breaking the school record with 23 doubles. She ranks second in the NCAA with 0.40 doubles per game and finished second in the conference with 12 home runs (2nd all-time in UNC history). Holden paced the Heels with 47 RBIs and set a new league record with a .768 slugging percentage. She also grabbed the ACC record with her 5-for-5 performance against North Carolina A&T (3/25) breaking the old record of four hits in a single game.
The Tar Heel games can be followed on GameTracker on TarHeelBlue.com.
