In an 11-4 blowout victory against Elon on Wednesday night, the North Carolina softball team flexed its offensive muscle early.
But the seven runs it scored in the first two innings didn’t come off power swings.
Coming off four straight losses, including a sweep at the hands of No. 22 Georgia Tech, the Tar Heels came into the game with their focus on the fundamentals.
“We talked a lot about doing our job, doing the little things well,” UNC coach Donna Papa said. “If we have a runner on first, bunt them over. If we got a runner in scoring position, score them. So I thought we did really nice job of sort of going station to station.”
The offensive attack began immediately for the Tar Heels as the first three batters reached base — all without the ball leaving the infield. Junior outfielder Kelli Wheeler led off the inning with a hit by pitch, and Amy Nece and Haleigh Dickey followed suit with a bunt single and a little squib that dropped just under the glove of the lunging second baseman.
True to the station-to-station style of play, clean-up hitter Logan Foulks drove in the game’s first run with a bases-loaded walk. The walk was one of five for the Tar Heels on the night, and of the 11 hits they earned, none were for extra bases.
“We knew that these pitchers were hittable,” Foulks said. “And I think the lineup one through nine has been doing really well, so we were just trying to be aggressive.”
UNC ended up sending all nine batters to the plate in the first, driving in four more runs on a groundout and singles off the bats of Brittany McKinney and Dani Manko respectively.
Despite the five-run cushion, the Tar Heels kept applying pressure. They continued to work the count against Elon starter Erin O’Shea in the second inning, ending her night when Ally Blake drew a bases-loaded walk.
