The NC State softball team lost its fifth game in a row Sunday, blowing a 2-1 seventh inning lead and losing to Boston College, 5-3, in nine innings.
Sophomore pitcher Devin Wallace (11-10, 2.44 ERA) threw seven strong innings for the Wolfpack (20-19, 4-10 ACC), allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks, striking out five.
Freshman Kama Woodall came in in relief for Wallace and was credited with the loss, surrendering two earned runs on three hits and one walk, striking out two batters in her two innings of work.
Wallace and Woodall did an excellent job slowing down an Eagles (19-15, 8-3) offense that was averaging almost 12 runs per game in its last four, but the offense just couldn’t muster anything, something that was frustrating to NC State head coach Shawn Rychcik.
“When you don’t score more than them it’s always frustrating,” Rychcik said.
Rychcik chalked it up to youth, however, acknowledging that he has an extremely young roster that is still adjusting to Division-1 college pitchers.
“We’ve had some challenges this year,” Rychcik said. “Offensively we’re young; we’re learning to hit.”
With both teams struggling offensively heading into the fifth inning, the Wolfpack’s bats finally came through in the bottom of the fifth inning, when sophomore center fielder Jade Caraway plated sophomore outfielder Angie Rizzi on a fielder’s choice with two outs.
Caraway hit a sharp ground ball to second base, but senior outfielder Macauley Prickett, pinch running for freshman designated hitter Lily Bishop, beat the throw to second base. Rizzi, who was on second base and stealing on the pitch, sped all the way around third base, never hesitating as she scored from second on a ball hit to second base.
“I was going home the whole way,” Rizzi said.
The Eagles responded immediately in the top of the sixth inning, as leadoff hitter Chloe Sharabba took the first pitch she saw deep to right field for her team-leading fifth home run of the season, tying the game up at 1-1.
Rizzi came up big again for the Wolfpack, giving the team a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs and freshman outfielder Sam Russ pinch running on third base, Rizzi chopped a hard hit ball over the head of third baseman Emme Martinez, scoring Russ and putting the Pack back in the lead.
“I told myself, ‘[Rychcik] has confidence in me,’” Rizzi said. “I can do what I can do.”
For the second time in a row, Boston College answered a Wolfpack run with one of its own. After a passed ball by Kobziak put runners on second and third with one out, first baseman Cami Sellers drove in the game-tying run and reached on an error by freshman second baseman Chandley Garner, but was tagged out by Balzer after rounding first base too aggressively.
This time, however, the Eagles would score another run. After Wallace missed her chance to escape with the game tied, issuing a two-out walk to second baseman Olivia Markopoulos, who is hitting just .086 on the year, Sharabba lined a two-out, 3-0 offering from Wallace into center field to plate the go-ahead run, putting the Eagles ahead 3-2. Wallace would get the next batter to fly out to left field, but the damage was done.
In what had become a pattern of the game, in the bottom of the seventh it was the Wolfpack’s time to come through in the clutch. With pinch runner Brittany Nimmo on second and two outs, down to her last strike, Caraway laced an opposite-field double off the left-field fence, scoring Nimmo and tying up the game at 3-3 and sending it to extra innings.
With the game still tied at three and two outs, Sharabba stepped to the plate with a runner on second, once again in position to come through in the clutch for the Eagles. Rychcik had a decision to make: intentionally walk Sharabba and put a runner on first base, or pitch to her and hope to get her out? Rychcik chose the latter, and it came back to bite him.
Sharabba once again drilled a pitch into center field for her third hit of the day, reaching second base for a double and driving in the go-ahead run. Left fielder Annie Murphy singled to center field in the next at-bat, scoring Sharabba and putting the Eagles up 5-3, where the score would remain through the bottom of the frame.
“We thought with the pitching change we were going to be alright,” Rychcik said. “We just missed our spot.”
The Wolfpack returns to action Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Campbell at Dail Softball Stadium.
