The UNC softball team’s 2024 season – its first under head coach Megan Smith Lyon – came to an end on Wednesday with a 7-4 loss to Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament in Durham. The Tar Heels were the No. 7 seed in the field, and the Fighting Irish were No. 10.

Carolina led 3-0 after two innings and 4-2 after four, but the Irish scored five runs in the sixth to seize control. The Tar Heels managed just one hit in the final two innings.

UNC ends the season with a 30-20 overall record and 10-14 mark in ACC play, having lost five straight contests to end the season. Still, the Tar Heels improved from their 26-28 record in 2023 in head coach Donna Papa’s final season, and the team’s 21-8 record at Anderson Stadium was its best since 2017. It’s the first time Carolina has won 30 games in a season since 2019 — also the last season in which the team made the NCAA Tournament.

Smith Lyon has now posted seven consecutive winning seasons as a head coach (one with Kansas and five with Marshall). A Carolina alumna, Smith Lyon played third base for Papa and the Tar Heels from 1996 through 1999.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Anthony Sorbellini

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