UNC softball hits record six homers

Haleigh Dickey came to the plate in the fourth inning with an opportunity to break her own school record for home runs in a game.

After smashing bombs in each of her previous three at-bats, the North Carolina freshman didn’t get another chance to go deep because she was hit by a pitch, sending her trotting towards first base.

Dickey produced her second three home run game in a week, and sophomore Kelli Wheeler added two of her own en route to a 17-7 Tar Heel victory Tuesday against South Carolina.

“It’s a big confidence booster,” Dickey said.

Junior Brittany McKinney went deep as well, giving North Carolina its sixth homer of the day and breaking a 10-year-old team record.

“We talked to them about being aggressive, taking control of their at-bats,” said UNC coach Donna Papa, who added that the team had come out of its recent funk.

Breaking the slump may have been an understatement, as the 24 combined runs were the most in a UNC game since March 7, 1996, a 18-9 loss at Arizona.

It was a day where everything seemed to go right for the North Carolina softball team, as those six home runs were only one of the records set against the overmatched Gamecocks.

The Tar Heels’ 17 runs and 15 hits each set season highs.

“I’m glad everyone had a part today,” said senior Christine Knauer, the ACC steals leader with 27.

All of these gaudy statistics for the Tar Heels came in only four innings at the plate, as they mercy-ruled South Carolina after the top half of the fifth inning.

The South Carolina fielders didn’t help themselves much, as their four errors in four innings allowed UNC to bat through its lineup three times in the game.

The Gamecocks have now dropped 23 of their last 28 games.

Not everything came easy for the Tar Heels, though, as the Gamecocks’ back-to-back homers in the top of the first inning — only South Carolina’s fourth and fifth deep balls of the season — gave them an early 2-0 lead.

The Tar Heels’ bats quieted any doubts in the bottom half of that inning, as Wheeler’s grand slam put North Carolina up for good.

“It was nice to put some (runs) up early,” Wheeler said.

The sophomore’s two home runs in Tuesday’s game put her first on the team with seven; Dickey is second with six.

In addition to Wheeler and Dickey, Papa decided to start a total of six underclassmen against the Gamecocks.

“We were looking for some offense,” Papa said. “We needed to make some changes so we could move forward.”

She admitted that the shake-up in the starting lineup was aimed to send a message to the team’s starters who had not been producing over the past couple of weeks, which included home series losses to Georgia Tech and N.C. State.

“Being relaxed,” Dickey said, “makes a big difference.”



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.