NC State Softball lost its first and only game of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge 7-3 by the Illinois Fighting Illini on Sunday at Dail Softball Field.
The Wolfpack (5-3) exhibited most of its offense when junior left fielder Sam Russ led off the game with a single and immediately stole second base, allowing senior right fielder Tatyana Forbes to drive the run home with another single. Once on base, Forbes also stole second. However, Illinois would recover quickly, striking out the next two batters and forcing a pop up to first base to bring the Fighting Illini (5-3) to the plate.
Illinois answered in the bottom half of the first with an offensive attack of its own. After senior starting pitcher Devin Wallace walked the first batter, a fielder’s choice set up a two-run home run to put the Illini up 2-1. Wallace would also stage a quick recovery, striking out two batters with a walk in between to stop the bleeding.
“It was just about ‘Keep it simple,’” said head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift about visiting Wallace in the pitcher’s circle. “‘Get ahead, let’s hit our spots, let’s work from the fastball,’ and that was kind of the big thing.”
NC State would tie the score at 2-2 in the top of the third. Russ led off the inning with another single followed by another stolen base. When Forbes hit a soft ground ball to the shortstop, Russ jumped on a sleeping Illinois defense to advance to third base after the ball was thrown to first base for the first out. Then, with two outs and Russ still on third, senior designated player Brigette Nordberg snuck a single through the left side of the infield for the tying RBI.
“I felt like I was seeing the ball well up there and getting good jumps on the basepaths,” Russ said. “So I was happy with how I performed today.”
In the bottom half of the third, the Fighting Illini would again get their offense going, putting runners on first and second with only one out. After Forbes made a great catch in deep right field, putting runners at the corners with two outs, a hard grounder to the left side was corralled by junior shortstop Randi Farricker, whose throw to first was dropped by senior first baseman Skylar Johnston, allowing a third run to score for Illinois.
This lead change prompted Patrick-Swift to make a call to the bullpen, substituting sophomore pitcher Sydney Nester for the starter Wallace. Wallace finished the game with 2.2 innings pitched, three earned runs, three strikeouts and four walks.
“I think early when some things didn’t fall our way, we started to play a little tight, and we don’t play well tight,” Patrick-Swift said. “We just couldn’t get loosened up after that, and ultimately it ended in a loss.”
No more runs would be scored until the bottom of the fifth, when Illini extended their lead to 7-2 with a grand slam.
“I started out, I came in and I had to close, so I finished that pretty well and came in with a strong second inning,” Nester said. “And then I just couldn’t control it, I just kind of let everything get to me and couldn’t close it out in the last few innings.”
The Pack began to show signs of life on offense in the top of the seventh, when two hits to lead off the frame helped produce one final run for State, resulting in a final score of 7-3.
The loss was the only one for NC State over the weekend, coming after a victory against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday and a swept doubleheader on Saturday against the Buckeyes and then the Illini.
“Super proud of the team,” Patrick-Swift said. “Two solid teams came in here receiving votes, and we came out and we played really well. Today we fell a little short but I’m proud of the team, proud of their resilience. We had some comeback wins and big hits so it was a fun weekend and we’re excited about how we opened it up at home.”
The Wolfpack will continue its homestand against the Elon Phoenix on Wednesday at Dail Softball Field. First pitch will be at 4:00 p.m.
