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March 28, 2024

UNC’s Wike voted ACC’s top defensive player

 

WIKE RECOGNIZED – UNC Senior and Hiddenite native Taylor Wike has been named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in Softball. Taylor is the daughter of Mary and Burpee Wike of Hiddenite. (photo:goheels.com).

Hiddenite native voted All-ACC for fourth time

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Taylor Wike headlines North Carolina’s four All-ACC honors as the 2018 Defensive Player of the Year announced Tuesday afternoon as voted on by the league’s coaches. Wike also garnered all-ACC first team honors in addition to sophomore pitcher Brittany Pickett. Juniors Destiny DeBerry and Kiani Ramsey round out North Carolina’s honorees as all-ACC second team selections.
  Wike is the first Tar Heel to be named the Defensive Player of the Year since the award’s first year in 2017. Additionally, Wike is only the fourth Tar Heel to earn all-ACC honors each of her four years as a first team honoree in 2015 and a second team member in 2016 and 2017. Wike led UNC’s offense in nearly every category in league play with a .377 average, .652 slugging percentage and .469 on base percentage. Defensively, the shortstop led the team in assists and double plays turned to become the UNC career record holder in both categories. The four-time all-ACC selection logged four home runs in league play with two triples and three doubles. The Hiddenite, North Carolina native drove in a team-high of 17 RBIs and was nearly perfect with six stolen bases out of seven attempts, including two at Virginia. Wike recorded eight multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games, including a 4-for-4 outing with two RBI and two runs scored vs. NC State. The senior logged three consecutive multi-hit games at Virginia, scoring four runs and driving in three. Selected as the ACC Player of the Week twice this season, Wike also slugged home runs in back-to-back games vs. Pittsburgh.
Regular season ACC champion Florida State swept the individual player honors. Jessie Warren picked up the Player of the Year honor while Kylee Hanson earned the Pitcher of the Year accolade. Sydney Sherrill rounded out the group as Freshman of the Year. Coastal Champion Pittsburgh’s Holly Aprile was named the ACC Coach of the Year.
The third-seeded Tar Heels begin their run in the 2018 ACC Tournament Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against #6 Georgia Tech.

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