#4 Tar Heels Earn 9-3 Comeback Win over #5 Louisville

Thursday, May 9

Tallahassee, Fla.

1:30 PM

North Carolina

34-17

Louisville

33-21

Louisville

North Carolina

May 9, 2019 | Softball

Box Score Box Score

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Despite trailing by three early, the Tar Heels showed their resiliency to earn the 9-3 come-from-behind win over Louisville thanks to three runs in the third inning and six runs in the fifth in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal on Thursday. With the win, Carolina advances to the ACC Semifinal to face #8 NC State Friday at 1 p.m. in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Cardinals struck first on an RBI-single and a two-run shot for the 3-0 edge. However, the Tar Heels knotted the game in the third inning on a pair of hits by Kristina Burkhardt and Kiani Ramsey. Carolina's offense exploded with six runs on five hits in the fifth, including a two-run double by Megan Dray. Solid UNC defense in addition to eight strikeouts by Brittany Pickett secured her 20th win of the season.

The Tar Heels improve to 34-17 while Louisville concludes the ACC Tournament with a 33-21 record.

Key Moments
» Louisville's Maddy Newman plated the first one on an infield single in the second inning.
» Pickett drew a walk to lead off the second, but a double play and groundout kept the Tar Heels off the board.
» The Cards tacked on two more with a shot to left field by Megan Hensley.
» Carolina answered back to knot the game at 3-all on a trio of hits. Campbell Hutcherson singled through the left side before Leah Murray drew a walk. Burkhardt lined an RBI-single up the middle to score Hutcherson from second. On a 3-1 count, Ramsey doubled to left-center to score two and even up the game at 3-3.
» Defensively, Abby Settlemyre and Hutcherson made back-to-back standout plays to shut down the first two batters of the fifth frame.
» The Tar Heels momentum picked up to build a six-run lead on five hits and an error in the fifth. Three consecutive infield singles by Hutcherson, Settlemyre and Murray loaded the bases before Burkhardt drove in her second run of the day for the 4-3 lead. Back-to-back RBI walks for Ramsey and Pickett upped the score to five before Dray lined a double to the left-center warning track to make it 8-3. Zoë Goodman finalized the inning's score on a sac-fly to left that scored Pickett to make it 9-3.
» Both Settlemyre and Murray singled in the sixth, but were unable to come around to score.
» The Tar Heels' defense shutout Louisville to close out the final four innings for the 9-3 win.
» Winning Pitcher: Brittany Pickett (20-11) // Losing pitcher: Danielle Watson (11-13)

Noteworthy
» With three consecutive 20-win seasons, Pickett threw her 70th career victory which ranks sixth in program history.
» With the win, UNC has won one game in the ACC Tournament each of the past 14 seasons.
» Murray, Burkhardt, Hutcherson and Settlemyre each had two hits while Ramsey and Dray each had one for UNC's 15th double-digit hit game of the season.
» Three Tar Heels had multi-RBI games: Burkhardt (2), Ramsey (3) and Dray (2).

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