Florida State Takes 4-1 Win Over North Carolina In ACC Softball Championship
Seminoles roll to ACC Championship Game with the victory



May 9, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. (theACC.com) – Florida State used the longball and converted on a pair of North Carolina fielding errors to down the Tar Heels, 4-1 in the first semifinal of the 2009 ACC Softball Championship at NC State’s Dail Softball Stadium. The second seeded Seminoles will advance to Sunday’s ACC Championship Game against the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal between Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

Florida State improves to 43-13 with the win while North Carolina falls to 45-11 with the loss.

In the bottom of the fourth, Florida State’s Kaleigh Rafter broke the deadlock with a two-run home run to left field. In the top of the sixth, North Carolina loaded the bases and was able to push across Christine Knauer on a walk to Brittany McKinney to cut the Seminoles lead in half. A pair of Tar Heel errors in the bottom of the frame opened the door to two more Seminole runs with two outs.

ACC Pitcher of the Year Sarah Hamilton went seven innings for Florida State to earn the win while Terese Gober faced two batters but failed to record an out. Hamilton was charged for the lone North Carolina run while scattering three hits and striking out 13 batters to earn the win to improve to 19-5. North Carolina’s Lisa Norris was on the hook for the loss to fall to 22-7 on the year. The Tar Heel hurler fanned 11, allowed five hits and two earned runs.

Sunday’s title game will be broadcast along the league’s regional sports networks starting at 1 p.m. Please check your local listings for specific channel information.

For complete coverage of the ACC Softball Championship, please visit the ACC’s championship central at: http://www.theacc.com/championships/09-softball-championship.html. The ACC is on Twitter; follow the league’s feed at twitter.com/TheACC.