April 19, 2009

No. 13 Tar Heels Take Series Finale From Hokies
The No. 13 North Carolina softball team extended its season long winning streak to 21 games on Sunday as the Tar Heels claimed a 3-1 win over Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon at Anderson Stadium. Lisa Norris picked up the victory in the circle as she tossed five scoreless innings for her 21st win of the season, while Danielle Spaulding closed out the contest for the first save of the season for the left-hander. Carolina will return to action on Tuesday when the Tar Heels host East Carolina at 6 p.m. in a single contest.

The Tar Heels struck for a pair of runs in the first inning before Virginia Tech coudl get settled into the game. Christine Knauer led off with a single to the shortstop to get things started. Breanna Brown followed by dropping down a sacrifice bunt that was mishandled at first by second baseman Kristen Froehlich allowing Knauer to move to third and Brown to move to second for Danielle Spaulding. The junior first baseman laced a pitch in the left center gap scoring Knauer and Brown and giving starter Lisa Norris a 2-0 lead to work with.

Norris would not need much help on the day as she threw just 28 pitches to get through the first three frames. She found herself in a bit of a jam in the fourth when Virginia Tech started a two-out rally with a walk. Following the free pass Beth Walker hit a high fly on the infield that was misplayed putting runners on the corners but it took Norris just four pitches to ring up Whitney Davis on strikes to end the threat.

• More From North Carolina
• More From Virginia Tech  

Florida State Finishes Sweep Over NC State With 1-0 Victory
For the second consecutive weekend, the No. 19 Seminoles pulled off a sweep over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent as they shutout NC State 1-0 at Dail Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., on Sunday afternoon. Florida State's overall record improves to 35-13 with an 11-4 ACC record while the Wolfpack falls to 20-23 and 3-12.

Picking up her 22nd win was junior pitcher Terese Gober who threw for 5.2 innings and gave up four hits and two strikeouts. She is now 22-8 overall with a 1.14 ERA and 172 punchouts.

Florida State started off strong in the first with back-to-back base hits from leadoff batter Shayla Jackson and Carly Wynn in the two spot. With top-hitter Kaleigh Rafter on deck it would seem as if the Noles would get at least one run across. But a hopper to third would result in a double play with Jackson and Rafter out, advancing Wynn to second.

• More From Florida State
• More From NC State  

No. 21 Softball Uses 4-Run 6th Inning To Beat Virginia, 5-3, And Sweep Series
A RBI double by freshman Danielle Dike highlighted a four-run sixth inning to lift the No. 21 Georgia Tech softball team (35-11, 12-3 ACC) to a come-from-behind 5-3 win over Virginia (25-17, 2-12) and complete the series sweep Sunday afternoon at the Park. Senior Blair Shimandle was 4-for-4 in the series finale and finished the weekend 10-for-11 with six runs scored, two doubles and five RBI against the Cavaliers.

Freshman Jessica Coan (5-3) picked up the win for the Yellow Jackets as she tossed five shutout innings in relief of sophomore Kristen Adkins. Coan came into the game in the third inning with three runs already in and the bases loaded with nobody out, but kept the Cavaliers off the scoreboard. She gave up just one hit and one walk while striking out six batters.

The Yellow Jackets have now won five straight ACC series' to open this season and eight in a row dating back to last year. This is the second straight series sweep for Georgia Tech as it is off to the best start in ACC play in school history. With six conference games left, the Jackets are within two league wins (14) of the most in program history.

• More From Georgia Tech
• More From Virginia  

Taylor Peyton's Pitching Leads Softball to 2-1 Win Over Maryland in 11 innings
The Boston College softball team (16-26, 2-10 ACC) recorded its first extra-inning win of the season with a 2-1 win at Maryland in 11 innings.

Blair Destito hit a two-run home run over the left field wall with two outs in the top of the 11th inning to break a scoreless tie and give BC a 2-0 lead. Then Taylor Peyton (9-11) was able to close out her longest career outing after a Maryland runner was thrown out at third base by leftfielder Allie Thunstrom while attempting to advance on a sacrifice fly.

Peyton and Maryland pitchers Kerry Hickey and Sarah Dooley matched each other's dominance through the first ten innings of play.

• More From Boston College
• More From Maryland