University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Ready For Kajikawa Classic This Weekend
February 4, 2015 | Softball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina softball will begin the 2015 campaign this weekend at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz.
2015 will be Head Coach Donna J. Papa's 30th season leading the Tar Heels.
UNC will face Northwestern in their opening contest on Friday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. Carolina will also face Stanford, Nevada, No. 2 Oregon and Bradley over the weekend.
Fans can follow the games on Twitter by following @UNCSoftball.
The Tar Heels return three All-ACC honorees in Kristen Brown, Jenna Kelly, and Aquilla Mateen for 2015 and also bring back eight position players and 15 letterwinners.
Carolina also added five freshmen to the 2015 roster along with Associate Head Coach Mary Jo Firnbach, who joins Papa and assistants Marissa Young and Suzanne Tadlock on the UNC coaching staff.
Scouting Kajikawa Classic Opponents
Bradley, Northwestern, and Oregon all reached the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Oregon finished the year ranked no. 3 after playing in the Women's College World Series. Northwestern and Stanford each received three votes in the 2015 preseason NFCA poll.
Northwestern – UNC is 2-1 in three outings against Northwestern, winning the last meeting in 2012 5-0. The Wildcats finished 2014 at 35-18 overall and 14-9 in the Big 10.
Stanford – The Tar Heels are 1-1 in matchups with the Cardinal. The last time these two teams met was in 2010 when UNC upset then No. 10 Stanford 3-0. In 2014 Stanford went 30-25 overall and 5-19 in the Pac-12.
Nevada – This will be the first meeting between North Carolina and the Wolf Pack. Nevada went 27-25 in 2014, 9-15 in Mountain West Conference games.
Oregon – Carolina last met Oregon in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, falling 3-0 and trail the all-time series 1-3. The Ducks spent five weeks in 2014 ranked No. 1 in the NFCA poll before losing to Alabama in the semi-finals of the WCWS. They finished the year 56-9-1 overall and 20-3-1 in Pac-12 play.
Bradley – Sunday's game will be the first meeting between UNC and Bradley since 1999 when the Tar Heels bested the Braves 3-1 and improved to 2-0 all-time against the Mountain Valley Conference school. Bradley went 27-32 overall and 15-12 in the MVC in 2014, winning the MVC Tournament to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
