The NC State softball team won its first game of the NC State Invitational Friday afternoon, mercy-ruling Lehigh 12-2 at Dail Softball Stadium.
Bouncing back from a tough midweek loss to Duke, the Wolfpack (12-5) mashed five home runs, its most in a game since 2016, and used big fifth and sixth innings to surge past the Mountain Hawks (3-3).
The fireworks started early as junior left fielder Sam Russ smoked the second pitch she saw deep to right field for a no-doubt opposite-field solo home run. NC State manufactured its next run, drawing two one-out walks before redshirt junior shortstop Randi Farricker cranked a double down the right-field line, scoring junior third baseman Logan Morris and putting the Pack up 2-0.
The scoring continued in the second inning as junior catcher Sam Sack drilled the second solo home run of the day for the Wolfpack to extend the lead to 3-0. It was Sack’s fourth home run of the season.
Lehigh trimmed the Pack’s lead down to two in the top of the third inning behind some defensive miscues by NC State. After senior right-hander Devin Wallace issued a leadoff walk, Farricker couldn’t handle a tough throw from sophomore second baseman April Visser on a ground ball, and the Mountain Hawks put runners on first and second. Lehigh scored just two batters later when senior center fielder Angie Rizzi misplayed a ball in the outfield, allowing a run to cross the plate and cut NC State’s lead to 3-1.
After both teams went scoreless in the fourth inning, the Mountain Hawks once again trimmed Wolfpack’s lead, hitting a solo home run in the top of the fifth to make the score 3-2.
The score wouldn’t stay close for long as the Wolfpack blew the game open in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Rizzi hit a solo home run to put the Pack up 4-2. The next two batters, Farricker and senior first baseman Skylar Johnston, both walked to put two runners on base. Junior outfielder Carson Shaner then came in to pinch hit for senior outfielder Brigette Nordberg, and Shaner would get in on the fun quickly, drilling a three-run home run to extend the lead to 7-2. NC State scored one more run before the inning was over when senior outfielder Tatyana Forbes drove in Sack with an RBI single.
Sophomore pitcher Sydney Nester kept Lehigh off the board in the top of the sixth after retiring all three batters. An RBI single by Johnston in the bottom half of the inning scored Rizzi, and just a couple batters later, Sack ended the game with one swing, crushing a three-run home run to put the Wolfpack up 10 and invoke the mercy rule.
The Wolfpack will be back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. for a doubleheader at Dail Softball Stadium. First up will be North Carolina A&T and 30 minutes after the conclusion of that game NC State will play No. 24 James Madison.
