N.C. State’s aces have hurled the Wolfpack (28-12, 4-2 ACC) into contention for their first-ever conference championship and NCAA Championships berth.
Prior to State’s weekend series with Virginia Tech, the Pack were riding on the coattails of a nine-game winning streak. Though it ended with a 3-2 loss to the Hokies on Saturday in the first meeting of a doubleheader, the stretch was still good for the second-longest winning streak in the program’s history.
“We are playing much better now since we came back from spring break,” head coach Lisa Navas said. “It is critical we are playing well now, but we are starting to hit the ball. And some kids have made adjustments and have started to come through.”
During that streak, the team’s ERA was a stingy 0.74. State also had six shutout victories in that span.
“Defensively, we’ve gotten more sound,” Navas said. “We were making mistakes early that were hurting us, but we’ve started to come together.”
Junior pitchers Abbie Sims and Shaina Ervin combined for eight of the nine wins in the streak.Sims is the team leader in wins with 14 and has struck out 166 batters in more than 133 innings of work.
Ervin has posted a team-best 1.28 ERA, which also places her fourth in the ACC. Though the Pack’s starting pitchers have enjoyed success through this point in the season, Ervin said maintaining control and locating pitches is still the focus of the pitching staff.
“It is important to remember for us as a pitching staff to not give people free bases,” Ervin said. “Walks are going to happen, but getting ahead of batters is key because that makes them fish after what you are good at.”
In her 15 appearances this season, Ervin has struck out more than three times as many hitters as she has walked. She attributed her cumulative performance to a cool self-assurance.
“I have a unique confidence this year,” Ervin said. “It’s more of me believing in myself so when I step onto the mound I know that if I do a good job that they are not going to hit the ball very hard.”
A newfound and assertive mental approach has given Ervin a motivation to prove her ability to herself, she said.
“When I’m preparing for a game, I prepare for every chance I’m given,” Ervin said. “I take that opportunity and prove why I belong on the field.”
State has also been swinging the lumber well enough to have outscored its opponents 48-17 over its last twelve games.
However, junior third baseman and team home run leader Jen Chamberlin says the team needs to cultivate more patience at the plate as the season grows older.
“We are a really aggressively-swinging team,” Chamberlin said. “Getting the count deeper and making the pitcher have to work harder is something that would benefit us.”
A landmark achievement for the three-year program occurred on March 22 as the Pack defeated ECU for Lisa Navas’ 100th career win at State. The third-year head coach of the Pack noted her satisfaction with the progress the young program has made.
“We are trying to get better every year as a program,” Navas said. “[The team has] done some good things, and the first two years they did exceed my expectations at that point, but right now what we want to accomplish is not far out of our grasp.”
Having won 10 out of their last 12, the Pack seem to be hitting their stride, according to Navas.
“I told them that there is no reason why we shouldn’t win the ACCs,” Navas said. “We were going to be the only ones to keep us from winning it. It’s happening at the right time, but it’s a long season.”
The Pack’s next competition is a doubleheader against Kent State today at 1 p.m.
“We have started to play more like a team,” Chamberlin said. “Being here from my freshman year until now, we all have experience, and we’re playing like that way.”
