Fresh off a heartbreaking loss Friday night to the LSU Tigers, NC State faced a doubleheader against Illinois and Nevada. After splitting the season-opening doubleheader and taking the walk-off loss to LSU, the Wolfpack had some ground to make up.
The Pack (2-3) started off Saturday with a hard-fought win over Illinois. The bats were active in the later frames against the Fighting Illini (0-5), and NC State earned a 9-4 win. But NC State completely flipped the script in the next game against Nevada (3-2), unable to score a run and falling 1-0 to the Wolf Pack.
The red-and-white leaves Baton Rouge with a 2-3 record, and while this might have not been the start head coach Lindsay Lefwich had hoped for, there were still moments that showed a lot of promise for the future.
Illinois
NC State softball found itself in a tie ballgame in the bottom of the sixth inning against Illinois. With the Pack needing to make something happen, the bats turned flaming hot; something absent against LSU. The Pack won the game 9-4 with a late and powerful offensive showout.
As the Pack entered the bottom of the sixth, it felt reminiscent of Friday’s meltdown against LSU; another hard fought lead built and then let up late in the game. Thus far, the Pack has had the bats to grab the lead, but it has struggled maintaining it. Sophomore first baseman Taryn Massey wouldn’t let the Pack go away easy, and started off a sixth-inning rally to remember.
Scoring five runs on five hits in the sixth, including a two-run home run off the bat of senior designated player Hannah Church, NC State took authority. But all game, Church and the Pack looked very comfortable in the batter’s box, as she went 2-for-3, not chasing pitches and battling at the plate, and NC State finished with 12 hits. Her teammate, sophomore second baseman Kendall Simmers, set up Church’s two-run slam with a single to nail the coffin shut on Illinois.
Over the last three days for the Wolfpack, freshman utility Morgen Talley has seen a lot of action on the mound. Over the Tiger Classic, she threw 223 pitches, including 101 pitches against Illinois, and while she did give up four earned runs, she kept the Fighting Illini at bay, pitching four straight innings without a score.
With the season still off to a fresh start, the Wolfpack earned a hard fought win with a late game rally. The ability to battle back will be very important down the stretch as the Wolfpack gets into conference play.
Nevada
After the offensive onslaught that the Wolfpack created against Illinois, it couldn’t find anything against Nevada. The momentum that had been built up had been taken away during the intermission between games, and the Wolfpack didn’t look anything like the team that had played two hours prior.
This defensive clash was filled with three up, three down sequences from both teams. Even the heart of the Pack lineup struggled, as senior center fielder Maia Townsend was the only batter through the first five batters in the lineup, to record a hit. Townsend went 2-for-3 in the game, but she was one of the only active bats.
The first and only run of the game came in the third inning off an RBI-double for Nevada. The Nevada defense was locked in, as it had a perfect fielding percentage and was a big reason the Pack could never get on the board.
Leftwich only threw one pitcher versus the Wolf Pack, senior Rylee Wyman. Wyman threw 99 pitches, had six strikeouts and only allowed five hits. Despite the loss, Wyman had a good day in the circle, and kept the Nevada offense at bay, only allowing one run with a strike percentage of 62.6%.
The loss to Nevada draws the curtain on the Wolfpack’s time in the Tiger Classic. While there were some hard moments, the team displayed its ability to battle, but the workload of the doubleheaders got the best of it.
The Wolfpack will travel to Clearwater, Florida to take on the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday, Feb. 16. First pitch is set for 9 a.m.
