Kenna Raye Dark, Shelby Barbee lift UNC softball to series win over N.C. State

Graduate third baseman Shelby Barbee has had a rough year on offense. 

Batting seventh, she has managed a .173 average and 19 hits this season. Before Saturday, she had recorded more than one hit in a game only twice. And in the first two games of UNC’s series against N.C. State in Anderson Softball Stadium, she was 0-5. 

So when she stepped up to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning in a tied game on Saturday afternoon, Barbee was just trying to put the ball somewhere. Anywhere. But preferably, where the defense wouldn’t be able to catch it. 

“It just happened to go over,” Barbee said.

Walk-off home run. Tar Heels win game three, 5-4. 

In that moment, Barbee joined junior pitcher Kenna Raye Dark as the heroes of the senior weekend series win over the Wolfpack, which was defined by tight defense and scoring outbursts. And on Saturday, while Barbee's homer lifted the Tar Heels to the win, Dark played an instrumental role in helping UNC get there. 

Dark had just finished pitching her seventh inning of the game and 13th inning of the series when Barbee left the dugout. 

She was getting ready to re-energize herself when she looked over and saw Barbee’s hit go over the wall. Dark jumped up and down. She screamed her teammate’s name, draining all of her remaining energy.

After the game, Dark donned three plastic-wrapped ice packs on her joints. 

“Really the difference, if I’m being completely honest, it was Kenna Ray,” head coach Megan Smith Lyon said. “She was amazing. They struggled making the adjustments off of her.” 

Dark started the first game of the series on Thursday and pitched until the seventh inning, when she gave up a home run, the Wolfpack’s only run in UNC’s 2-1 win. She noted that her best pitch — the drop curve — was elevated throughout the game. She needed to work on getting it to drop lower. 

She sat out game two, and North Carolina struggled to generate offense, giving up 11 hits in a 5-4 loss on Friday. Dark started game three. 

Through the second batter in the top of the third inning, she had already recorded five strikeouts. But in that same inning, an error — the only error of the game — allowed N.C. State to get a runner on first. Following her fifth strikeout, Dark walked a batter and then gave up a single to load the bases with only one out. 

Then, Dark had a problem with the wrist device that allows her to communicate with the catcher. Facing N.C. State’s clean-up hitter Hannah Church, the pitch call from sophomore catcher Raeghan Carlson was delayed. 

So, Dark had to improvise. She decided to try to throw a drop curve. This time, she wanted it to rise in the zone, so that the batter would think it was a ball.

But Church connected for a grand slam, and suddenly UNC was down two runs. 

Still, Dark’s confidence wasn’t shaken. She struck out the next batter and didn’t allow anything more than a single for the rest of the game. 

“I was just thinking, ‘Attack, no mercy, they can’t get nothing else off me,’” Dark said. “This team shouldn’t even be on the field with me. They shouldn’t even be really facing me and getting hits off of me, so I think that was disrespectful.” 

And while Dark held down the defensive side of the ball, Barbee had the chance to put it away for good on offense. Previous mistakes didn't matter. 

"I was just looking for something I could drive," Barbee said. "I just saw it on the plate and decided to put my best swing to it." 

@BeckettBrant

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