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UNC Greensboro

#12 Kentucky at UNCG, Feb. 19, 2021
Carlos Morales
3
Samford SAM 15-23
9
Winner UNC Greensboro UNCG 25-14
Samford SAM
15-23
3
Final
9
UNC Greensboro UNCG
25-14
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Samford SAM 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 4 3
UNC Greensboro UNCG 4 4 0 0 1 0 X 9 8 2

W: Stiltner, Hannah (4-5) L: Emily Barnett (7-8)

Game Recap: Softball | | by Jeff Mills, Special To UNCG Athletics

UNCG Sets Home Run Record In Sweep Of Samford

GREENSBORO -- Senior right-hander Hannah Stiltner pitched a complete game, and UNCG's offense hit four more home runs Saturday morning, leading the Spartans to a 9-3 victory over Samford and a three-game sweep of their key Southern Conference series at the UNCG Softball Stadium.
 
The power display set these Spartans apart.
 
Junior catcher Samantha Lagrama's home run in the first inning, a line drive that hit the top of the fence in straightaway center field and bounced over, broke the old school record of 61 home runs in a single season set by the 2016 and 2017 UNCG teams.
 
Makenna Matthijs, Kayleigh Willis and Katie Stettler also hit home runs Saturday, giving UNCG a league-leading 65 homers and counting through 39 games. This was the sixth game this season in which the Spartans have hit at least four homers.
 
With the sweep, UNCG (25-14, 9-3 SoCon) moved a half-game behind idle league-leader Western Carolina (20-21, 9-2 SoCon) in the conference standings. The Spartans have won seven games in a row and eight of their last nine.
 
UNCG has seven games left in the regular season, the last six against SoCon opponents. The Spartans control their own destiny, as they finish the year with a head-to-head three-game series against Western at UNCG Softball Stadium.
 
Stiltner (4-5, 5.81 ERA) pitched her second complete game in 16 appearances this season. The senior from Mebane allowed one earned run on four hits and a walk, striking out four in seven innings. Stiltner worked the low part of the strike zone and coaxed 12 groundball outs. She set down 14 of the last 15 hitters she faced, getting eight ground outs during that stretch.
 
UNCG scored all the runs it would need in the first inning off losing pitcher Emily Barnett (7-8). The Spartans took a 4-0 lead on Lagrama's two-run homer, senior Jasmine Palmer's double, then back-to-back RBI singles from left fielder Hannah Kincer and right fielder Jordan Gontram.
 
The G tacked on four more in the second inning to break the game open.
 
Senior center fielder Matthijs, the SoCon's current Player of the Week, hit a solo home run just to the left of the scoreboard in right-center field. After Lagrama was hit by a pitch and Palmer reached on an error, senior Kayleigh Willis went with a pitch on the outer half of the plate, driving it to the opposite field for a towering three-run homer well over the right-field fence.
 
Matthijs' 10th home run of the season ranks second in the SoCon. She leads the league in hits (47), RBIs (35) and runs scored (35), ranks third with a .356 batting average.
 
Stettler, a senior outfielder, led off the fifth inning and finished the scoring with a solo shot over the left-field fence off lefty reliever Taylor DeCelles. It was Stettler's sixth HR of the season.
 
Eight different Spartans had hits in the game, and UNCG now has nine players who have hit at least five home runs this season.
 
UNCG plays a non-conference game at Charlotte at 4 p.m. Wednesday, then heads to Macon, Ga., for a three-game SoCon series this weekend at Mercer.
 
 
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