DURHAM — Following a 4-2 win on Friday, the North Carolina softball team played a doubleheader on Saturday against Duke, splitting games with their rival, but winning the series to open the conference season.
The Tar Heels (11-9, 2-1 ACC) began the day with hot bats, dominating Duke by a score of 8-1. Immediately following that game, North Carolina fell to the Blue Devils, with the final score being 2-1.
“We won the series, that’s good, but I’m very greedy," head coach Donna Papa said. "I want to sweep the series, because when you have the opportunity to sweep, that’s what you need to do, and that’s what you need to do to be great.”
While the hitting may have been inconsistent, from 12 hits in the first match of the doubleheader to three in the second, one aspect of the Tar Heels’ game stayed solid throughout – their pitching.
North Carolina’s ace, junior Brittany Pickett, went for all seven innings in the first game, throwing 112 total pitches. After spending two weeks out with an injury, she came out eager to pick up where she left off.
Pickett was able to show off her impressive pitching early, getting out of a jam in the fourth inning with the bases loaded. She only let up one run before forcing the next batter to pop out in the infield and retiring the next hitter on a ground ball, escaping the tough situation and showing again why she is so valuable to the North Carolina team.
“It was all smiles,” Picket said. “A little adrenaline, but I think I played really well and was able to get strikes on batters, and mostly execute pitches the way I wanted to.”
Papa was also very pleased with the performance of her star.
“We had Brittany Pickett back for the first time in two weeks and I thought she did an outstanding job going seven innings,” she said. “Then, in the second game, she came in relief and she really shut them down. To have Brittany back and throwing like she did was really positive for us.”
