University of North Carolina Athletics
Spaulding Strikes Out 13 In Tough Loss
August 17, 2009 | Softball
Aug. 17, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Two-time ACC Player of the Year Danielle Spaulding has joined the Austrian Sharx this summer playing in the 2009 European Cup Championships in Milan, Italy. The European Cup opened pool play today and will run through Saturday, August 22nd.
In the opening match for the the Sharx Spaulding pitched seven innings striking out 13 out of the 29 batters faced. The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. native allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits Monday in a 2-1 loss the Netherlands. Fellow American Lindsay Meadows, formerly of Louisiana Tech, registered the win for the Netherlands giving up one run on six hits.
Spaulding also batted in the fifth for the Sharx registering one hit in two at-bats, with a walk. A full box score can be found here as the Sharx return to pool play tomorrow against a German squad.
Spaulding helped the Tar Heels to a 47-13 record in 2009 and a spot as an NCAA regional host for the second straight season. The standout junior led the Tar Heels in home runs (12) and RBIs (45), while ranking third in runs scored (22) and fourth in batting average (.311). In the circle, she paired with fellow teammate Lisa Norris to provide one of the strongest pitching duos in the country. The junior registered 13 complete games holding opponents to only a .124 batting average.
Spaulding is only the second player in school history to earn multiple NFCA All-America awards, earning NFCA All-America second-team in 2008. Spaulding, the third-team utility/pitcher selection in 2009, also joins fellow ACC standouts Sarah Hamilton of Florida State and Jenna Rhodes of Virginia Tech as third-team selections. This year marks the first time in league history at least three players have earned NFCA All-America honors. Hamilton was second in the country in strikeouts per seven innings with 10.8, nearly four punch-outs less than Carolina's Spaulding.
