The North Carolina softball team was primed to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.
UNC was down 2-1 to No. 22 Liberty. A double, a sacrifice bunt, a hit-by pitch and a steal put runners on second and third with just one out. The Tar Heels just needed one more hit. One more push to score.
But graduate shortstop Grace Jackson — a bottom-of-the-order hitter with 24 hits on the season — struck out swinging.
Then, senior right fielder Alex Coleman grounded out to shortstop. She raced to beat the ball to first base and give her teammates a chance to run home, but it didn't matter.
“Striking out when you have a rally going is not the best thing in the world to do,” head coach Megan Smith Lyon said. “And you know for Grace, she’s always been really good at putting the ball in play and working pitchers and that just didn’t work out for her.”
North Carolina's inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities doomed the Tar Heels in their 3-1 loss to the Flames on Wednesday night. North Carolina struck out eight times — the team's most all season. The result also marks the first time UNC has lost in back-to-back games all season.
The team's only run came in the bottom of the second inning. Senior first baseman Carlie Myrtle swung on a pitch right down the middle of the zone and sent it bouncing off the camera stand behind the center field wall.
Myrtle wasn’t the only player swinging. All three of UNC’s outs in the second came on swinging strikeouts. Myrtle also let three balls pass by, waiting for something hard and bold. None of the other hitters had more than one ball.
Smith Lyon credited Liberty’s pitcher, Elena Escobar, for drawing swings from the Tar Heel offense. Ultimately, she said failure to produce quality at-bats against a team like Liberty made it hard to win.
