The UNC softball team (10-3) bounced back with a 5-0 win over Maryland (4-7) on Saturday afternoon in Anderson Softball Stadium to start the 2025 Carolina Classic.
After building a lead in the first inning, the game was a defensive battle until the sixth, where North Carolina recorded three quick runs to seal the game.
“We knew that at South Carolina, we got beat on speed, and we knew that this weekend we were going to see the same thing,” graduate second baseman Kat Rodriguez said. “So, when we came back, we knew we were attacking one thing and it was speed.”
Maryland went three up, three down to start the game. Junior Pitcher Kenna Raye Dark threw a strikeout to send the Tar Heels to the plate.
After senior right fielder Alex Coleman took first on a bunt and then stole second, a hit to left field by graduate second baseman Kat Rodriguez sent Coleman sliding into home to put the Tar Heels on the board. Two batters later, Rodriguez tagged on a fly out and ran home to make it 2-0.
“We’ve talked to them about how we want to set a tone for a game,” head coach Megan Smith Lyon said. “So as an offense, we want to be aggressive with balls in the zone, we want to put pressure on the defense from the beginning.”
A walk in the top of the second gave the Terrapins their first runner on base with two outs, but a ground-out left her stranded. In the bottom, Coleman again tried to steal second, but was tagged at the base for the third out.
Both teams put a runner on base in the third, but the offense was sparse. Both teams went three up, three down in the fourth inning.
In the top of the fifth, Rodriguez fielded a bouncing ball in between first and second and spun to make the throw to first, but was too late. One batter later, a walk put two on with one out as Maryland searched for their first run. But Dark recovered in the circle, claiming a strikeout, and a line drive to sophomore center fielder Sanaa Thompson sent the game to the fifth-inning stretch.
