Softball Heads To Coastal Carolina For Mid-Week Matchup

CONWAY, S.C. – The Carolina softball team travels down to Conway for its first mid-week matchup of the season against Coastal Carolina. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

The Tar Heels enter the game at 3-2 with two wins over Appalachian State and a win over Southern Illinois. Coastal Carolina comes with a 3-1 record after two wins against Creighton and Purdue Fort Wayne.

NEWS & NOTES

A WIN WOULD...

- Be better than a loss
- Be the Tar Heels fifth consecutive win over the Chanticleers

KIWI'S COMEBACK

- After battling through numerous injuries and being hit by a car, Kiwi Pierce is back on the softball field in
Carolina blue
- In her first at bat back in the season opener, she picked up a single, going right back up the middle
- She picked up four hits and RBI during opening
weekend

NEWCOMERS POP OFF IN CAROLINA BLUE DEBUT

- In the season opener against App St newcomers
accounted for all eight RBI
- Kat Rodriguez led the way with four RBI, followed by Rayna Blackwell who hit two homers for three RBI, then Shelby Barbee had one
- Grace Jackson accounted for three runs
- After one weekend, a newcomer leads in 12 offensive categories

2025 PRIMER

- Megan Smith Lyon enters her second season as the leader of her alma mater
- In her first season at the helm the Tar Heels went 30-20 and 10-14 in ACC play
- The Tar Heels roster has a lot of new faces with 12
returners and 14 newcomers to the roster (7 transfers/7 freshmen)

RETURNING FIRE POWER

- Alex Coleman was ranked the #27 outfielder in the country with teammate Sanna Thompson slotting in a #29
- Coleman returns for her second season in Chapel Hill after a stellar 2024 season where she hit .436, walked 20 times while only striking out 11 times. She always was a menace on the base paths, stealing 20 bags
- Thompson was a breakout freshman in 2024, hitting .402, five homers, with an on base percentage of .477

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

- Freshman Lilly Parrish was named to both the D100 Freshman Watch List and the Softball America Freshman Watch List
- Parrish was a top-20 ranked recruit who is considered one of the top two-way freshman in the country
- Ella Fox was also named to the Softball America Watch List

SPECIAL NUMBER 3

- Alex Coleman wears #3 because it was the same number head coach Megan Smith Lyon wore when she played at Carolina
- At Marshall Coleman wore #4, but switched to three once she got to Carolina
- Coleman and Smith Lyon also played for the same club softball organization the Carolina Cardinals

SISTERS TOGETHER AGAIN

- Junior Caroline Fox is joined on the 2025 roster by her little sister Ella Fox
- The Fox sisters are two of seven siblings, they have three sisters and two brothers
- Head Coach Megan Smith Lyon is quoted as saying ""If you ask anybody on our team who works the hardest, who does everything the right way all the time, they'll all say Ella, Always."

CAROLINA FEEL TO IT

- 43 of Carolina's 55 games take place in either North Carolina or South Carolina
-The Tar Heels only leave the Carolina's for three weekends (Tiger Invitational @ Auburn, Syracuse, Notre Dame)
- 34 games will take place at home in Anderson Stadium

LEGACY LEGACY LEGACY

- Britton Rogers is the daughter of Courtney Blades-
Rogers, one of the most accomplished pitchers in NCAA history. She completed her career with 1,773 strikeouts (fifth in NCAA history), ranks second all-time with 215 wins, and holds the record for 52 victories in a season among many other pitching accomplishments from her Southern Miss career

OUR LEADER

- Head coach Megan Smith Lyon played for UNC head coach Donna J. Papa from 1996-1999 and served as team captain in her senior season. She still ranks sixth in career assists (380) and was named the team's Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 1999. She also joined her former head coaches' staff as an assistant in 2004. Smith's hometown is Walkertown, a little over an hour's drive to Chapel Hill

FAMILIAR FACE ON STAFF

- Assistant coach Kiwi Mateen James, a former UNC softball player (2013-2016) is married to former UNC basketball player Joel James and they have two
children, a son, Ziggy, and a daughter, Zorah
- Coach Kiwi was inducted into the Jordan-Matthews High School Hall of Fame on Jan. 24, 2025

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Shelby Barbee

Rayna Blackwell

Alex Coleman

Caroline Fox

Ella Fox

Grace Jackson

Lilly Parrish

Kat Rodriguez

Britton Rogers

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University of North Carolina Athletics