Carolina Begins NCAA Regional Friday vs. Ohio State

CHAPEL HILL – After reaching the ACC Tournament Championship game for the second time in three years, North Carolina earned an at-large bid to the 2019 NCAA Tournament, traveling to 12-seed Tennessee. Carolina opens the weekend against Ohio State Friday at 11 a.m. in Knoxville.

The Knoxville Regional takes place at Tennessee's Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. Session tickets are available at allvols.com. Fans unable to attend can watch Friday on ESPN2. The broadcast schedule for the reminder of the tournament is dependent on Friday's outcome.

UNC broke four stolen base records at the ACC Tournament, highlighted by Leah Murray becoming the UNC career stolen base record holder. Six Tar Heels earned ACC honors with Brittany Pickett and Kristina Burkhardt on the all-conference first team.

Recently for Carolina (35-18)
After defeating Louisville with a comeback, 9-3 win over the Cards on Thursday, the Tar Heels broke out their speed for another win against NC State to advance to the ACC Championship. With nine stolen bases Friday and 117 on the season, Carolina broke four stolen base records in addition to Brittany Pickett dishing out 13 strikeouts for a single-game high . UNC fell to Florida State 0-8 in six innings in the ACC Championship.
» UNC single-game stolen base record (prev: 8 three times, most recent: 3/27/19 at ECU)
» ACC tournament record (prev: 8, Florida State vs. Notre Dame in 2016)
» UNC single-season record for fourth-straight season (116 in 2018, 106 in 2017, 102 in 2016)
» Leah Murray became the career stolen base record holder with 103 (prev. Tiffany Tolleson with 102)

Tar Heels at the NCAA Tournament
» Won at least one game in each of UNC's past seven NCAA Regional appearances and 12 of the past 14
» Advanced to the regional final five times, including the most recent appearance in 2017 at Ole Miss
» Went 1-2 in the 2007 Knoxville Regional, defeating Winthrop in game one, but falling to #1 Tennessee and Winthrop again in the elimination game
» Never reached a Super Regional.

Record Watch
Taking her 33rd pitch at UGA, Berlynne Delamora is now the program record holder in HBP with 35. The senior has also drawn 134 walks to overtake Taylor Wike's program record mark. Stealing two bases against NC State, senior Leah Murray became the program record holder with 103 stolen bases. Murray has tallied 223 hits to surpass the prestigious 200 hit mark and rank 8th in program history. Fellow senior Destiny DeBerry ranks is fourth with 78 stolen bases. In the circle, Brittany Pickett overtook Lisa Norris' career saves record with her 12th save vs. Louisville.

The Tar Heels eight ranked wins this season are a new single season program record. Carolina's wins over then-ranked No. 3 Florida State are the first top-five wins in program history. Prior to 2019, the most ranked wins in a season was six in 2010.

Tar Heels vs. the Field
Carolina owns a 20-9 edge over the Knoxville Regional. UNC leads the series against Ohio State, 6-3 and Longwood, 13-1. However, Tennessee owns the series, 5-1. Carolina dropped an 0-2 decision to Tennessee at home on March 20. Mother Nature prevented the Tar Heels and Lancers from playing their usual midweek match on April 2. The Buckeyes traveled to Chapel Hill in 2017 for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

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Players Mentioned

Kristina Burkhardt

Destiny DeBerry

Berlynne Delamora

Leah Murray

Brittany Pickett

Taylor Wike

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