Cards Bow Out of ACC Championship

Thursday, May 9

Tallahassee, FL

1:30 p.m.

University of Louisville

North Carolina

May 09, 2019 | Softball

Box Score UNC 9 - Louisville 3 (ACC Quarterfinal)

Fourth-seeded North Carolina tops fifth-seeded Cards 9-3

By: Lori Korte

The University of Louisville softball team built a 3-0 lead, but North Carolina plated nine unanswered runs to beat the Cardinals 9-3 in the ACC Championship quarterfinals Thursday at JoAnne Graf Stadium.

Louisville (33-21) will learn its postseason fate on Sunday at 9 p.m. (ET) when the NCAA selection show airs on ESPN2. Should the Cards receive an at-large bid, it would mark the 14^th NCAA appearance in program history.

Senior Megan Hensley paced the Cardinals with two hits, including a home run, and two RBIs while sophomore Maddy Newman went 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Cards at the plate.

UofL broke through with a run in the second after sophomore Kyra Snyder drew a walk, took second on a passed ball and eventually scored on an infield single by Newman.

Louisville added two more runs in the third behind Hensley's two-run homer. Redshirt senior Sidney Melton got the offense started with a two-out single and proceeded to register her team-best 33^rd stolen base of the season. Hensley stepped up and launched a shot over the left field fence for her 12^th home run of the season to put the Cards up 3-0.

North Carolina (34-17) countered with three runs in the third. A hit by Campbell Hutcherson and a walk to Leah Murray set up Kristina Burkhardt's RBI single. Kiani Ramsey followed with a two-run double to even the score at 3-3.

The Tar Heels capitalized on five hits and two walks to score six runs in the fifth. After North Carolina use three straight infield singles to load the bases, Burkhardt's RBI hit plated the go-ahead run. Back-to-back walks and an RBI single by Megan Dray put the Tar Heels up 9-3.

The Cards had a final scoring opportunity in the seventh when junior Celene Funke singled and stole second to put a runner in scoring position with one out, but Louisville could not capitalize.

Danielle Watson (11-14) took the loss after giving up eight earned runs on seven hits and striking out two in 4.0 innings.

"Offensively, I thought we had good plate appearances the whole game, they didn't always have a great result, but I thought we were doing what we needed to do to go that way," said UofL head coach Holly Aprile. "I think we got into a little bit of a jam on a couple of plays when they loaded the bases in the fifth inning and it's hard to come back from that… I thought overall in the game we battled and made good adjustments – that was a tough inning."

TEAM NOTES:
• North Carolina leads the series 9-7
• As a team, Louisville has registered a program-record 102 stolen bases on 117 attempts on the season. The previous record was 68 (95 attempts), set in the 2010 season.
PLAYER NOTES:
Sidney Melton
• Sidney Melton has reached safely in the last 18 games
• Melton also leads the team with a career-high 33 stolen bases and owns Louisville's single season record.
• She now has 66 stolen bases in her career, placing her second on Louisville's all-time list. Audrey Rendon (2004-07) holds the school record with 82.
• Melton baseman ranks fifth on Louisville's all-time list for career runs (153) She needs five more to tie Audrey Rendon (2004-07) for fourth.
Celene Funke
• Celene has 27 stolen bases and is tied for third with Audrey Rendon (2005) on UofL's single season list.
• Funke recently pushed her career stolen base total to 46 and moves into a three-way tie for fifth with Candi Hicks (2004-07), and Kristin Austin (2009-12) on Louisville's all-time list.
Megan Hensley
• With her 37^th career home run, Hensley stands third on Louisville's career list and needs one more to tie Chelsea Bemis for second (2008-11).
• Hensley improves her season RBI tally to 43 and her career total to 172, good for third on Louisville's all-time list. She needs two more to tie Courtney Moore (2011-14) for second.
Kyra Snyder
• Kyra Snyder has reached safely in 14 straight games.