University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Elon
Sweep Of Elon Puts Papa At 799 Wins
February 21, 2007 | Softball
Feb. 21, 2007
ELON, N.C. --- North Carolina head coach Donna J. Papa earned her 798th and 799th wins with a doubleheader sweep of Elon at East Field Wednesday afternoon. With the 6-1 (game one) and 5-4 (game two) wins, Papa comes within one of the historical 800-win mark, a feat only 14 active coaches have achieved. Papa's career record now stands at 799-472-4 in her 24th year as a head coach, with 22 of those spent at Carolina.
A Stephanie Murad double to lead off the top half of the second helped the Tar Heels (6-5) scratch the scoreboard first in game one. Joslin Higgins followed with a single and Whitney Allen's sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third. Running for Murad, Christine Knauer came around to score on a fielder's choice, sliding around the catcher's tag at home.
Higgins came up big again in the bottom of the third, this time defensively, to rob the Phoenix of run and keep the Heels up 1-0. With a runner at third and two outs, Higgins made a diving snag on a groundball to her left and threw the batter out at first to preserve the lead for UNC.
Cassie Palmer got things started for Carolina in a four-run top of the fifth that broke the game open. She scored on a wild pitch after a leadoff double, and the offensive rush was on as the Tar Heels went on to load the bases soon thereafter. Emily Troup pinch hit and picked up three RBI with a bases-clearing double that landed just fair down the third-base line. Just like that, UNC led 5-0.
The Phoenix picked up their only run off starter Lisa Norris in the bottom half of the fifth to make the score 5-1. But the Tar Heels answered right back with an RBI single off the bat of Jennifer Jacobs to plate Palmer and restore the lead to five at 6-1.
Norris, who went 2-3 with an RBI to help her cause at the plate, pitched seven innings with just the one earned run and gave up only five hits to get the win. Higgins and Murad each added two hits for the Tar Heels as well. Samantha Schroeder picked up the loss for the Phoenix.
In game two, Carolina jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after Cassie Palmer, who reached base to start the game when she was hit by pitch, came home on Jennifer Jacobs' second RBI single of the day.
Elon struck back with two runs in the bottom half to take their first lead, 2-1, but UNC answered with a run in the second to knot the score at two.
It stayed that way until the top of the sixth when Troup broke through again for Carolina, collecting her fourth RBI on the day. She sprayed a ball into left field, allowing Anna Evans, who led off the inning with a single, to score and give the Heels a 3-2 advantage. The bottom of the sixth saw the Phoenix reclaim the lead, though, as they scored two runs on two hits and a Carolina error. With one at-bat left, the Tar Heels trailed 4-3.
Two straight base hits by Whitney Allen and Anna Roberts to open the top of the seventh chased Elon starter Carol Lilley and gave Carolina some hope. Then, with the outfield playing shallow, Ashley Oxendine played heroine as she lifted a pitch over the centerfielder's head, clearing the bases to give UNC it's third lead of the game, 5-4 - recording her first two RBI of the season in the process. That hit would prove to be the gamewinner, as Norris, who came on in relief of Johnson in the sixth, worked a 1-2-3 seventh to get her second win of the day, evening her record at 4-4.
Roberts went 2-3 and scored a run in her first career start, the only UNC player with a multi-hit game in the back end of the doubleheader. Jacobs' RBI took her team-leading total to 12.
North Carolina will next travel to Columbus, Ga., for the NFCA Leadoff Classic, which starts Friday with games against Auburn and Southern Illinois.
