The North Carolina softball team (7-2) held off the Princeton Tigers (1-1), 2-0, in the first game of the Friday double-header at Anderson Softball Stadium with a shutout from starting pitcher Kenna Raye Dark.
Dark opened the game with a shutout in the first and second innings thanks to the help of center fielder Sanaa Thompson who made a diving catch in the top of the second to keep Princeton off the board.
North Carolina’s Shelby Barbee entered the batters box with two outs on the board in the bottom of the second. She made contact with a fastball which she drove over the left field wall to give UNC their first hit and first run of the game.
The Tigers went three up, three down in the third to extend the clean sheet for Dark. North Carolina followed suit with Princeton starting pitcher Brielle Wright throwing three straight strikeouts.
Dark threw two strikeouts to start the fourth.
With two outs for the Tigers, Princeton’s Karis Ford found a gap between second and short for the Tigers first hit. Second baseman Allie Godwin followed with a single of her own, but a fly-out from Sophia Marsalo left both Tigers stranded on base.
The Tar Heels escaped the inning up 1-0.
Princeton’s Keala Hollenkamp took the mound for the Tigers with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Hollenkamp struck out Wright to end the fourth.
Dark retired three batters in a row to extend her shutout through the fifth.
