Amber Parrish carries UNC softball home

The North Carolina fans erupted, and the players walked to the line to shake hands when Amber Parrish swiped a tag on Longwood’s Justina Augustine for what was thought to be a game-ending play at the plate.

The umpire thought differently, calling Augustine safe, knotting the game at five each.

Coach Donna Papa sprinted from the dugout to argue the call, but it was to no avail. The Tar Heels and the Lancers were headed to the bottom of the seventh inning.

Moments later, Parrish found herself in the batters box with a chance to win the game for the Tar Heels, and she did just that. The senior sent a two-run jack over the fence and UNC fans onto their feet with a 7-5 walk-off victory against the Longwood Lancers in Game 1 of a double header.

On Wednesday, for the first time, Papa moved Parrish into the cleanup spot in the Tar Heels’ lineup, calling on her hard work as the main reason for this change. The coach said that recently Parrish had been chasing pitches, particularly changeups, instead of being patient at the plate.

“Amber has gotten her swing back,” Papa said. “That decision turned out to be really good; she was a great hitter today.”

The trees in left field weren’t ready for the tear that Parrish was about to go on after the play-at-the-plate in the seventh inning of Game 1.

Parrish took her hot streak into Game 2 of the doubleheader, peppering those same trees over the left field fence with a pair of dingers, sending kids running to retrieve the balls she sent deep into the forest with two more consecutive home runs.

“I have a tendency to get out on my front foot,” Parrish said, “I’ve been working on staying back and seeing the ball.”

With each home run came free UNC softball T-shirts — which fans loved as they immediately began shouting for T-shirts while Parrish made her way to the plate.

But it wasn’t just fans enjoying Parrish’s performance. Former UNC standout and current Cincinnati Bengals running back Giovani Bernard got in on the fun, tweeting, “Geez .@parrish22 out there hitting batting practice homeruns!!”

“Gio and I are best friends,” Parrish said. “We met sophomore year and have been best friends ever since.”

Wednesday’s home runs increased Parrish’s tally to 14 on the year, just three short of teammate and USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year finalist Kristen Brown.

Parrish said it was a friendly competition between the two.

“We’re best friends on the team,” Parrish said.

Brown echoed the sentiment, “We cheer for each other; we’re teammates first.”

Although Papa was livid after the close call at home plate, which almost cost the Tar Heels game 1, she had nothing bad to say about the strong performance by Parrish.

“My God, three home runs in a row,” Papa said, “That was outstanding.”

The close call at the plate might have shifted momentum, but it was Parrish’s home-run evening that made the difference in a sweep of Longwood.

sports@dailytarheel.com