North Carolina takes rubber game against Syracuse, 2-1, with walk-off walk
Katherine Sotelo | Staff Photographer
Four walks given up by Sydney O’Hara and Jocelyn Cater in the seventh inning resulted in a 2-1 walk-off win for North Carolina (12-11, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) over Syracuse (9-11, 1-2 ACC) in their third matchup of the weekend.
The Tar Heels took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning after Taylor Wike singled to center field, scoring Kiana Sherlund. But neither team would score again until the final frame.
In a 3-2 count in the top of the seventh inning, Corinne Ozanne hit her team-leading fourth home run of the season to tie the game, 1-1. But UNC struck back in the bottom half of the inning.
O’Hara struck out UNC’s Dani Garcielita to begin the bottom half of the seventh inning, but then walked Aquilla Mateen and Kristen Brown. Jocelyn Cater then replaced O’Hara, and forced a lineout to third base to get the second out.
Cater then intentionally walked Tracy Chandless to load the bases, which backfired after Cater threw four balls against Darby Rosen. That scored Mateen, sealing North Carolina’s second win of the weekend.
AnnaMarie Gatti gave up five hits with one strikeout in four innings, while O’Hara allowed one hit and four walks before being pulled in the seventh inning for Cater.
The Orange returns to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon, when SU will visit Savannah State for a doubleheader.
Published on March 13, 2016 at 2:37 pm
Contact Chris: cfthomse@syr.edu