NC State
12-20, 6-3
#28/25 UNC-Chapel Hill
26-8, 7-2
Softball Holds Off Sweep With 8-7 Win At UNC-Chapel Hill
3/26/2017 3:31:00 PM | Softball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - With a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to rally back and take a one-run lead, the NC State softball team held off a series sweep at No. 28/25 UNC-Chapel Hill with an 8-7 win on Sunday afternoon at Anderson Softball Stadium.
With the victory the Wolfpack improves to 12-20 (6-3 ACC) and the Tar Heels fall to 26-8 (7-2 ACC) on the season.
Rychcik's Review
"First of all, I'm so proud of how the girls battled today," said head coach Shawn Rychcik. "We dropped the first two games and the second game got kind of ugly, and were down 4-0 in the first inning today. We got a couple of runs to get back in it and then they hit a home run and were down again, but we kept battling the entire game.
"All of the credit goes to the kids for how they keep fighting together. It's been a great trait of ours to just keep battling this season even when things aren't going our way. I'm happy for our seniors to get a win up here, even though it won't be the last time we're here with the conference tournament. Peyton (Silverman) had some good innings and some tough ones with great pitches along with some mistakes, but at the end we were able to get three outs right in the heart of their order.
"I'm just proud of how they battled and to come out and get another win in conference play is really big, we've put ourselves in a good spot. We didn't take the series like we had hoped, but to get a game out of this when it was tough it shows how hard the kids are playing for each other right now."
Game Rewind
-The Tar Heels grabbed a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Berlynne Delamora's three-run home run to left field and Katelyn Shifflett's RBI single to left field to score pinch runner Brittany West from second base.
-NC State got on the board in the second inning with Brittany Nimmo's solo home run to right center - her first of the season.
-UNC-CH plated another run in the fourth inning on Brittany Pickett's single through the right field gap to score Destiny DeBerry. DeBerry got on base with an infield single and stole second.
-The Pack added three more in the fifth inning to trim the deficit to 5-4. Molly Hutchison drew a 10-pitch walk with the bases loaded, and Haylee Kobziak followed with a 2-RBI single to second base.
-The Heels answered in the bottom of the frame with Kendra Lynch's two-run homer to right center to take a 7-4 lead.
-In the sixth inning A 2-RBI single by Tyler Ross through the right field gap cut the deficit to one, allowing pinch runner Natalie Jones and Molly Martin to cross home plate. Jones came in for Cheyenne Balzer after she reached on a fielder's choice by the shortstop, and Martin's double to left center put runners on second and third.
-The Pack rallied back in the top of the seventh and took the lead for the first time in the contest on Nimmo's second home run of the day - a two-run bomb to left field. The last time a player had a multi-homer game was Ross on March 30, 2016, against USC Upstate.
-In the bottom of the inning UNC's Taylor Wike was hit-by-pitch to lead off the frame, but the next three batters were retired on a fly out to right field, pop up to the shortstop and strikeout swinging.
-Peyton Silverman (8-10) pitched her 14th complete game of the season, only walking one batter and striking out four.
-Nimmo led the batting order with a 3-for-4 performance along with three runs batted in, while Ross and Martin tallied two hits in their four trips to the plate.
On Deck
NC State will host Liberty Wednesday in a midweek tilt. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Dail Softball Stadium.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Silverman, Peyton (8-10)
L: Sydney Matzko (3-4)
Batting:
2B: Martin, Molly 1
HR: Nimmo, Brittany 2
RBI: Ross, Tyler 2 ; Hutchison, Molly 1 ; Kobziak, Haylee 2 ; Nimmo, Brittany 3
SH: Compton, Alyssa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ross, Tyler 1 ; Caraway, Jade 1 ; Autry, Geena 1 ; Nimmo, Brittany 2 ; Jones, Natalie 1 ; Martin, Molly 1 ; Prickett, Macauley 1
Batting:
HR: Berlynne Delamora 1 ; Kendra Lynch 1
RBI: Berlynne Delamora 3 ; Kendra Lynch 2 ; Katelyn Shifflett 1 ; Brittany Pickett 1
SH: Taylor Wike 1 ; Destiny DeBerry 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Leah Murray 1 ; Taylor Wike 1 ; Berlynne Delamora 1 ; Micaela Abbatine 1 ; Kendra Lynch 1 ; Brittany West 1 ; Destiny DeBerry 1
SB: Leah Murray 1 ; Destiny DeBerry 1
HBP: Taylor Wike 1
