University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Florida State
Tar Heels Fall to No. 20 FSU
March 4, 2005 | Softball
March 4, 2005
CHAPEL HILL --- The University of North Carolina softball team dropped its first two Atlantic Coast Conference games of the season Friday, falling to visiting No. 20 Florida State by scores of 2-0 and 6-3. Crystal Cox was the hard-luck loser in both games, as the Tar Heels tried to notch their first win since 2002 over the Seminoles.
Game one featured a pair of stellar pitching performances by Cox and FSU starter Casey Hunter (7-5). The two squads traded zeros for six innings before the Noles broke through in the seventh. After a walk and a bunt single to lead off the frame, Melissa Wood advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt. A harmless groundout brought Cox one out from escaping without harm, but a bloop single by LaShaun Davis plated the game-winning runs.
After being held to only two Anna Evans singles in game one, the Tar Heels (13-7, 0-2 ACC) finally got some offense going to start game two. An Erica Ennis single drove home Marissa May and Evans to give Carolina a 2-0 lead. Ennis then came around to score on FSU's second error of the frame to push the lead to 3-0 after one. The three runs in the first ended a 31 inning scoreless streak for UNC that included four consecutive shutouts.
Florida State (14-6, 2-0) inched back with single runs in the third and fifth, including a solo home run by Davis, to cut the gap to 3-2. The score would hold there until the seventh, when the Tar Heels got within one out of their first regular season win over the Noles since 1999. A two-out error on a slow ground ball led to the tying run, then back-to-back hits plated three more runs to give FSU a comfortable 6-3 lead it would not relinquish. Cox was saddled with four unearned runs in the inning.
The two teams will close out the weekend series Saturday afternoon with a single game scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
