CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina southpaw Brittany Pickett tossed a complete-game, four-hit shutout to lead the Tar Heels to a 3-0 win over the Longwood softball team
Tuesday afternoon at Anderson Stadium.
Pickett (21-6) allowed four hits and seven total runners to reach base, as North Carolina is just the second team this season to shutout Longwood (24-13). She struck out seven Lancers, as she tossed 118 pitches, 76 for strikes.
"I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win," Riley said. "We were just unable to get a clutch hit when we needed it and didn't capitalize on our opportunities."
Pickett was backed by a two-hit day from Kiani Ramsey, who went 2-for-3 in the game from the leadoff spot.
North Carolina was able to overcome a two-hit day from redshirt-junior
Karleigh Donovan to extend her hitting streak to five games.
Krista Kelly and
Kelsey Sweeney also added a pair of hits for the Lancers.
Megan Dray's fourth inning single handed the Tar Heels (23-19) the lead bringing home Brittany West, who came on as a pinch runner for Berlynne Delamora who drew a walk.
After earning a leadoff walk in the fifth inning,
Jessica Smith was thrown out at the plate after trying to score on
Jenna Dunn's hard-hit ball that was ruled an error.
In the sixth inning, Longwood loaded the bases with one out in the inning but a strikeout and a popup induced by Pickett ended the threat and the inning.
Longwood pitching only yielded five hits to Tar Heel bats with
Sydney Gay,
Sydney Backstrom and
Sydney Mundell all seeing action in the circle.
After earning a pair of wins over the weekend in Longwood's series win over Liberty, Backstom (8-5) took the loss for the Lancers after giving up one run on a pair of hits and a walk in three innings after relieving Gay in the circle. Gay started the game and went three scoreless innings, striking out the side in the second inning while giving up just a
pair of hits.
Mundell pitched the sixth inning and gave up a pair of runs Sierra Parkinson's first home run of the season to provide the Tar Heels a pair of insurance runs. That was the only hit allowed by Mundell, as she also yielded a pair of walks.
"We could've done a better job in terms of being ready from the start and my hope is that we'll do a better job of that tomorrow," Riley said.
Up next, Longwood will face its second consecutive ACC foe Virginia Wednesday, April 11. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. from The Park in Charlottesville, Va.
#GoWood
