April 21, 2009

No. 13 Tar Heels Claim 22nd Straight
An RBI single by Brittany Robinson in the second inning propelled the No. 13 North Carolina softball team to its 22nd straight win Tuesday night as the Tar Heels claimed a 1-0 win over East Carolina (34-12). Danielle Spaulding and Lisa Norris combined on the shutout as Spaulding improved to 19-2 on the season and Norris notched her third save of the year. Carolina will return to action Wednesday when they host Charlotte in the final regular season home game of the year.

The teams each put a runner on with two outs in the first inning but both starting pitchers delivered strikeouts to end the threat as Toni Paisley and Danielle Spaulding started their pitcher's duel off on the right foot.

Spaulding faced the minimum in the second despite giving up a single before her offense picked her up in the bottom half. Brittany McKinney battled Paisley to a full count before drawing a base on balls to get a one-out rally going. 

Jalm's grand slam helps Tech salvage split with Longwood
The Virginia Tech softball team salvaged a split with Longwood University Tuesday at Tech Softball Park as the Lancers took game one, 5-3, but the Hokies used a grand slam from Kim Jalm in the second game to win 4-3.

After a first game in which not much went right for Tech, the second game didn’t start off much better than the first one did for the Hokies fell behind 2-0 early on. But in the fourth inning, senior Kim Jalm came up huge for the Tech. Beth Walker singled and moved to second base on Whitney Davis’ walk. An infield single by Kristen Froehlich loaded the bases for the senior from Jupiter, Fla. Jalm ripped an opposite-field grand slam off the scoreboard in right field for her first home run as a Hokie.

Longwood scored an unearned run in the fifth to make it a one-run game, but reliever Kenzie Roark shut the door the rest of the way as the Hokies snapped a four-game losing streak.