University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
Pitt Upsets North Carolina In Semifinals Of ACC Tourney
May 9, 2015 | Softball
BLACKSBURG, VA – The bats that had been hot all season were not there on Friday for the Tar Heels as North Carolina was upset 4-0 by Pittsburgh in the semifinals of the 2015 ACC Softball Championship.
Fresh off of an upset of third-seeded Notre Dame, the sixth seeded Panthers came out firing. The first two Pitt batters reached on infield singles before UNC starting pitcher Sydney Matzko walked Jenna Modic to load the bases. After McKayla Taylor struck out swinging, Carly Thea singled left center to bring in a run.
Dani Garcielita made a beautiful diving catch in shallow left field on the next play for the second out but Maggie Sevilla was able to tag up and score from third. Jordan Fannin kept the momentum going for Pittsburgh with a single up the middle to load the bases again. Matzko then walked Kathryn Duran for another Pitt run before being replaced by Kaylee Carlson who got Carolina out of the first inning.
Shelby Pickett blasted a solo leadoff home run in the top of the second to make it a 4-0 Pittsburgh lead.
The Panthers out-hit the Tar Heels 8-2 through the first four innings. Kendra Lynch singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the second but was left stranded. Aquilla Mateen singled to centerfield to lead off the bottom of the fourth but Kristen Brown followed her by grounding into a 5-4-3 double play.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh, North Carolina had the heart of its batting order due up with Brown, Amber Parrish and Jenna Kelly. A Parrish single was sandwiched between a Brown line out to second base and a Kelly fly out to centerfield. Kendra Lynch popped out to the Pittsburgh third baseman in foul territory to end the game.
Carlson struck out five over 6.1 innings on the circle, allowing just one run on six hits.
Savannah King earns the win for Pittsburgh, walking none in seven innings pitched.
Carolina was out-hit by the Panthers 10-4. This is the second shutout loss of the season for the Tar Heels.
Pitt will play Florida State tomorrow in the championship game at 1 p.m.
UNC drops to 36-14 on the year and will now have to wait for the NCAA to announce its field of 64 for the postseason on Sunday at 10 p.m.
