2008 Woodie Awards
Bears to cap season with Utah road trip
Jakob Rodgers
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Sports
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"I'm hoping - one way or the other I want to get a sweep," Schunke said. "It'll be my first and the first for the seniors on the team."
The Bears will get their chance in the coming days as UNC finishes the season on the road with games against Utah State, Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State. It is shaping up to be an important road trip for the Bears (11-32) as they have a chance to finish with the most wins the program has had in a season since 2002.
"That's our goal," Schunke said. "Hopefully we won't fall short of that and we'll just keep pushing forward in trying to get that."
The Bears go into the final games of the season with a little more confidence after going 4-1 on a homestand that included a 5-1 win over University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
According to freshman pitcher and outfielder Courtney Maihi (.205 average, 12 RBI), who propelled the Bears to a 5-2 win in a doubleheader against Utah Valley on Saturday with a seventh inning grand slam, the team is ready for the challenge.
"I think that just having the wins under our belt and going away gives us more confidence," Maihi said. "So we'll get over there and be like 'Yea, we can play these teams - yea, we can beat them,' whereas before we were a little bit low on spirits because we were like 'We haven't had a home game - we haven't won.' So, we were kind of edgy but I think now we'll go in there with confidence."
The Bears will begin the road swing with doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday against Utah State (11-27). As of Tuesday night, the Aggies had lost their last six games, the latest coming at the hands of Louisiana Tech (29-23).
The Bears will then travel to Orem, Utah for a doubleheader rematch against Utah Valley State (9-29). The Bears won the first three games against the Wolverines during the homestand, but dropped the last 6-5, thus losing a chance for that ever-elusive sweep.
While Schunke said the team got a little too content in the final home game as it had rallied from behind to win every game before, senior outfielder Mackenzie Barrett said the team just pushed a little too hard for the sweep.
"I never felt content," Barrett said. "I don't know about the other girls, it seemed like we were all maybe trying a little bit too hard because, like, we had never swept a team before. So that was our big goal at the beginning of the series."
The Bears will then travel to Provost, Utah to face BYU (31-15) on Tuesday before returning to Orem to face the Wolverines for one last doubleheader on Wednesday.
For Barrett, who will play her last games for UNC in the coming week, the final stretch is all about setting the program up for bigger things in the future.
"It's just all about building the program and if we can just improve that little bit every year, then I think someday this program will be a big name," Barrett said.
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