University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Florida State
Spaulding Fuels Tar Heel Sweep Of Florida State
February 24, 2008 | Softball
Feb. 24, 2008
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Danielle Spaulding improved to 4-0 on the season as she picked up a pair of wins over Florida State on Sunday in Tallahassee, Fla. The Fontana, Calif. native was dominant from the onset as she helped the Tar Heels take game one 5-1 and was able to hold on in game two for the 7-4 victory. Spaulding struck out 22 in her 13.1 innings of work on the day. Carolina will be in action on Wednesday when the Tar Heels host Elon in a midweek doubleheader.
Danielle Spaulding was dominant once again in game one as she struck out a career-high 13 in her complete game performance. Spaulding got some instant run support in the top of the first as Breanna Brown drew a one out walk and stole second before Emily Troup drove her in with a perfectly placed single through the right side to score Brown.
Jennifer Jacobs made it 2-0 in the top of the second when she connected on a leadoff home run, her third of the year. Spaulding continued to mow down Seminole hitters as she picked up two strikeouts in the second and struck out the side in the third. Her bid for a perfect game fell in the bottom of the fourth as she issued a free pass to Ashley Stager, but Spaulding would strike out the next batter to end the inning.
Florida State broke up the no-hitter in the fifth and cut Carolina's lead to 2-1 as the Seminoles picked up an unearned run. The Tar Heels got a runner on second base with just one out but were unable to push across the insurance run in the sixth inning. Alyssa Francona would change that in the seventh as she connected on her first home run of the year, a two-run shot to deep left that made the score 4-1. Cassie Palmer would follow Francona by drawing a walk and then proceeded to score after a stolen base, a wild pitch and an RBI groundout from Breanna Brown.
Despite allowing a leadoff single, Spaulding set the next three batters down in order to pick up her third win of the year and give the Tar Heels their first ACC win of the year.
Spaulding got the ball again in game two and continued her dominant performance as she allowed just one hit through the first four innings of the contest.
The Tar Heels got on the board in the top of the fourth when Spaulding reached base on an error by the second baseman. Dani Manko filled in as a pinch runner and then stole second to put herself in scoring position. Whitney Allen gave Carolina a 1-0 lead with a double to left field as she drove in Manko from second. The Tar Heels added another run in the top of the fifth with a two out rally. Palmer got things going once again with a single to left center and would score on the next play when Brown laced a single to right center that the centerfielder overran allowing Palmer to score.
Spaulding tallied two more strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth before the Tar Heel bats put another pair of runs on the board. The star of the day, Spaulding, led off the sixth with a single to right field before Jacobs drilled her second homer of the day down the right field line to give Carolina a 4-0 advantage. The Tar Heels would threaten later in the inning but were unable to push across another run.
Carolina added three more runs in the top of the seventh as Breanna Brown, Emily Troup and Danielle Spaulding led off with three consecutive singles to load the bases for Jennifer Jacobs. The Florida native produced a run-scoring groundout to second for the first run of the inning. After a groundout put two outs on the board, Alyssa Francona laced a single back up the middle to plate Troup from third. Anna Roberts followed with an RBI single that dropped over the third baseman's head for the seventh run of the game.
The Seminoles picked up a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh off of Spaulding before Amber Johnson stepped into the circle and closed the door, while allowing a single run.
