The North Carolina women’s softball team (23-6, 4-2 ACC) fell, 10-2, to the Clemson Tigers (20-9, 3-3 ACC) at McWhorter Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Clemson’s pitching created challenges for the Tar Heels offense and UNC's pitching couldn’t keep the Tigers off the bases. North Carolina suffered a run rule defeat to lose the series.
North Carolina started off slow due to Clemson's strong defense early on. Despite having one runner on base, the Tar Heels came up empty in the first inning.
In the bottom of the first, sophomore pitcher Nikki Harris struggled, walking the first batter on just four pitches and giving up a two-out single to Clemson's Macey Cintron. Harris walked the next batter, loading the bases.
Clemson scored its first run following a catcher’s interference call. Then, a hard-fought at-bat by sophomore Kylee Johnson gave the Tigers their second run. Harris took care of the next batter to earn the third out and end the first inning with Clemson up 2-0.
The Tar Heels responded as senior first-baseman Carlie Myrtle crushed a home run to left center, cutting the Tigers’ lead in half. Clemson pitcher Reese Basinger refocused and earned the next three outs facing only four batters.
The Tigers started the bottom of the second inning strong, earning a four-pitch walk, forcing the Tar Heels to change pitchers. Clemson remained aggressive, executing a sacrifice bunt, placing runners on first and third with no outs. Clemson second baseman Maddie Moore popped a double into the outfield, scoring another run and placing runners on second and third. First baseman Julia Knowler followed up with another double in the centerfield gap that scored two more runs, putting the Tigers up 5-1 with no outs.
Following the runs scored, North Carolina changed pitchers for the second time, calling on redshirt senior Britton Rogers to limit the damage. Despite giving up two runs on a double by senior catcher Aby Vieira, Rodgers settled in and struck out all three batters, holding the score to 7-1 at the end of the second inning.
The Tar Heels scored a run after Myrtle doubled to left center, bringing in graduate second baseman Kat Rodriguez, who reached base on a single to left. However, Clemson’s Basinger struck out the following batter to end the top of the third with a score of 7-2. UNC’s Rogers pitched a strong bottom of the third, holding Clemson scoreless for the first time in the game.
