NC State softball continued ACC play throughout the weekend, traveling to chilly South Bend, Indiana, to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a weekend series. Despite doing well in non-conference play, the Pack (18-12, 1-8 ACC) has struggled to repeat that success when playing teams within the ACC, and this weekend against Notre Dame (20-10, 5-4 ACC) proved to be no different.
Game one
To kick the weekend off the red-and-white played a Friday night matchup against the Irish, but fell 5-3 in a tough back-and-forth battle. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Madison Inscoe got the start in the circle and pitched three innings for the Wolfpack, giving up four runs off five hits. Still, out of the 14 players Inscoe faced, she was able to fly out three and ground out four batters.
NC State got on the scorecard quickly, securing two runs in the top of the first inning. Inscoe got on second with a quick double down the left field line to put her halfway to home plate. She wouldn’t need to wait long though — sophomore catcher Amanda Hasler stepped up to the plate and launched her ninth home run of the season and put the Pack up 2-0.
The Fighting Irish responded with two runs of their own, scoring two runs with a double down the right-field line. NC State did not respond quickly, going three-up, three-down at the top of the second but sent Notre Dame to the same fate at the bottom of the inning.
The Irish got on the board again during the third inning. Catcher Carlli Kloss reached third with a hit down the third base line and was brought home by the next batter. Now with a 3-2 lead, Notre Dame did not look back on the Pack. Two more runs in the fourth inning allowed the home team to get up to 5-2 on the Wolfpack.
NC State scored one more run to close out the Friday matchup. At the top of the seventh inning junior third baseman Hannah Goodwin singled up the left side of the field. A few batters later redshirt sophomore first baseman Michelle Tarpey reached first on a fielding error and the commotion was enough to get Goodwin to home plate. With a final score of 5-3, the Pack went down 0-1 in the series.
Game two
NC State approached game two looking to rebound from the unfortunate game one loss. The Wolfpack got hot early after the first three runners got on base. With the bases loaded, sophomore center fielder Ellie Goins hit a single to right field that brought two runners home.
Goins tried to steal second base during the next at-bat but was caught. However, that allowed enough time for the runner at third base to reach home plate, tallying three runs in the first inning for the Wolfpack.
The red-and-white cycled through three different pitchers during the matchup, with redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Aisha Weixlmann starting in the circle. The Fighting Irish predicted her pitches, recording four runs and zero outs in six at-bats. Freshman right-handed pitcher Kayla Fekel replaced Weixlmann in the circle but found herself facing the same issues, allowing two more runs before closing out the inning. At the end of the first, the Wolfpack saw itself down 6-3.
At the top of the second inning, the Wolfpack got its first three batters on base but lost the momentum after back-to-back outs. With the bases loaded, Notre Dame walked Inscoe, bringing home the runner on third base. The Pack was unsuccessful in scoring any more runs but brought the score to a manageable 6-4 deficit after holding the Fighting Irish scoreless in the second.
The Wolfpack went scoreless in the top of the third inning, but Notre Dame hit a three-run homer to make the score 9-4. Immediately following the home run, sophomore right-handed pitcher Rylee Wyman replaced Fekel. Wyman managed to close out the inning without allowing any more runs.
Though Wyman held the Fighting Irish scoreless for the remainder of the game, the Wolfpack couldn’t generate any momentum, recording just one hit throughout the final four innings, ending the game with a final score of 9-4.
Game three
To finish out the weekend the red-and-white once again leaned on Inscoe to get momentum in the circle, and during the final game of the series, she delivered. For the second time this season, the Virginia native tallied five strikeouts through three innings and eventually finished the game with eight.
This was the closest game out of the three played throughout the weekend, with Notre Dame winning off of fielding mistakes by the Pack. Both rosters played lights-out defense up until the fifth inning. The first four innings did not see more than six batters at each at-bat before the defense got the three outs. Throughout the 24 batters faced, Inscoe caused seven groundouts on top of her eight strikeouts.
Despite not getting on the scorecard, the Pack did not back down in the batter’s box. With six hits, the Wolfpack tried its best to keep the match on its side. Taylor Ensley and Goodwin led the team with two hits each while Hasler and Inscoe got one each.
The Pack will have another non-conference game against UNC-Charlotte before taking on Florida State in Tallahassee. First pitch against UNCC is set for Tuesday, March 26, at 8 p.m.
