Florida State softball returned home to Tallahassee, for their final ACC regular series. For the first game of the series against the North Carolina Tar Heels, Ashtyn Danley got the ball to start. Danley began with a lead off walk, and a one out walk put two runners on. The freshman faced a dangerous part of the lineup, walking the bases loaded and less than two outs.

An error from the Seminoles infield pushed across the first run, as well as keeping the bases loaded. FSU traded an out for a run, and a groundout finally ended the visiting half of the 1st, with a 2-0 UNC lead.

Facing Kenna Raye Dark for UNC, Kaley Mudge led off with a single. After the fly out, Kalei Harding reached safely on a soft hit single. With Isa Torres at bat, the freshman shortstop put the ball in play, but UNC couldn’t field it properly, allowing one run to cross home.

Torres stood on third with two outs. Another infield single not in time allowed Devyn Flaherty to reach safely, and Torres to come home to tie the game.

Flaherty was able to scoot over to second base on a passed ball. With two outs, Michaela Edenfield made her return to the FSU lineup. Reaching down on a pitch, Edenfield drove in another run to make it 3-2.

Up a run with two outs, Jahni Kerr extended the lead with a 2-run shot to left field. The two runs ended Dark’s day, bringing in Nikki Harris. Harris was able to end the 5 run inning on a fly out.

Now working with a lead, Danley came back out for the 2nd inning. Leading off, UNC started with a solo shot to get a run back. A hit by pitch added a runner with no outs against Danley. A pair of ground outs and a strike out kept the inning at one run.

In the bottom of the inning, Amaya Ross singled and stole a base against Harris. A fly out advanced Ross to third base, and a single from Jaysoni Beachum brought in the 6th run of the game.

Harris and Danley kept it 6-3 through 3.5 innings, before FSU continued in the bottom of the 4th. Katie Dack led off with a walk, and a single from Ross and Mudge loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly by Beachum, and ground out by Harding added two more runs for FSU. With two outs, Torres homered for her second straight game, busting the door open.

Now in run-rule territory, with a 10-3 score, Emma Wilson, after coming on in relief, made quick work of the Tar Heels in the top of the 5th. A single from Ross and Mudge in the bottom frame set the table for Beachum, who sent everyone home on a walk off 3-run homerun.

FSU took the opening game by a 13-3 score, bringing their season total to 38-10 overall.

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Saturday, April 27th, 4 pm, ESPNU

A Vietnamese-based company will build its first North American solar panel manufacturing plant in eastern North Carolina, creating over 900 jobs, officials announced on Friday.

Boviet Solar along with Gov. Roy Cooper and other government officials revealed at an East Carolina University news conference the company’s plans to invest almost $300 million in a 1 million square-foot advanced manufacturing facility in Greenville.

Founded in 2013, Boviet makes solar panels and photovoltaic cells that are already used in the U.S. by commercial, industrial and residential customers, Cooper’s office said in a news release. Boviet also has offices in Germany, China and the U.S., according to a company fact sheet.

The plant in Greenville, located 85 miles east of Raleigh, will help build company capacity worldwide for high-end solar panels and photovoltaic modules, a Cooper news release said.

“We are proud of bringing our manufacturing excellence to our most important solar market, creating jobs, and making a positive impact on North Carolina’s economy,” Boviet CEO Jimmy Xie was quoted in the governor’s release.

The 908 jobs, expected to be in place by 2028, on average will pay $52,879 annually, which is slightly above the Pitt County average, a state Commerce Department document said.

Boviet also considered alternative sites for the plant in Phoenix and Atlanta, the document said.

Earlier Friday, a state panel approved cash incentives to Boviet of up to $8.3 million over 12 years if it meets job-creation and capital spending thresholds. In all, Boviet is poised to receive $34.6 million in combined state and local incentives for the project, according to the commerce document.

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Another Vietnamese company, electric car manufacturer VinFast, is building a plant in Chatham County that is expected to create thousands of jobs.

Boviet Solar has officially announced its plans to start a solar panel manufacturing facility in Greenville, North Carolina. The move has been referenced as “Project Gen” in county records for a number of months.

Boviet Solar will use incentives and grants from Pitt County and the North Carolina Dept. of Commerce for the $294 million refab of an existing 1 million-ft² building in Indigreen Corporate Park. The site should support 900 jobs.

“Our dreams of producing our PV modules in the U.S. finally come to realization. We are proud of bringing our manufacturing excellence to our most important solar market, creating jobs, and making a positive impact on North Carolina’s economy. We are committed to expanding solar as a widely used renewable energy source in the U.S. and delivering locally made, top-performing PV modules to accelerate the advent of the global renewable revolution,” said Jimmy Xie, General Manager of Boviet Solar.

Ningbo Boway Alloy Materials Co., a Chinese materials manufacturer that supports Boviet Solar, revealed this week its intentions to build a 3-GW TOPCon cell plant in Vietnam in addition to this 2-GW module assembly factory in North Carolina. Although now with Chinese backing, Boviet Solar was founded in Vietnam 11 years ago. The company’s solar panels were one of the few brands explicitly excluded from antidumping/countervailing duties on Southeast Asian imports last year.