The NC State softball team upset No. 22 Ohio State 5-4 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Friday in extra innings at the Dail Softball Stadium.

In a game threatened by rain, NC State (4-2) was down, but within striking distance until the sixth inning. Freshman Timberlyn Shurbutt came up with the game’s biggest hit, a grand slam to put the pack up by two. The Pack ended up winning in extra innings after a controversial walk-off.

Ohio State’s (5-1) starting pitcher, Shelby McCombs, shut down the Pack for most of the game. McCombs went 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on three hits and eight strikeouts on only 27 batters faced.

The Buckeyes were the first to score in the first inning against sophomore pitcher Devin Wallace. OSU’s Lilli Piper hit a one-out, two-run homerun to right field on the eighth pitch of the game after Wallace hit the leadoff batter.

Ohio State threatened again in the fourth inning after a leadoff walk and a double down the left-field line. However, Wallace was able to produce three straight ground balls for three huge outs to end the inning and keep the Pack in the game.

NC State finally got its first hit in the fifth inning with a single to center field by senior Alyssa Compton, but the Pack could not get anything going. Piper, made an incredible play at shortstop in the hole toward third base to end the inning and any chance for State to rally.

Wallace gave up a single to lead off the sixth inning and would be replaced by freshman Kama Woodall. Wallace went five innings, gave up two runs on five hits, three walks and struck out four. Wallace kept her team in the game and only making one mistake in the first inning.

“It was a good effort,” head coach Shawn Rychcik said. “You play a ranked team and you get a team like that offensively, you may not be able to get through seven innings. Their All-American didn’t get through seven innings”

The Pack finally threatened in the sixth inning with the leadoff batter, sophomore Jade Caraway reaching by an error, followed by walks to sophomore Angie Rizzi and junior Cheyenne Balzer. Freshman Timberlyn Shurbutt came up huge for the pack crushing a one-out grand slam to center field, putting NC State up 4-2.

“I knew that I struck out my first two,” Shurbutt said. “So I was going up there thinking about just hitting the ball, not about hitting a homerun, trying to get a rally going.”

Unfortunately for the Pack, the Buckeyes struck back in the seventh with a line-drive two-run home run to left by Niki Carver to tie the game at 4-4. Both teams came up with clutch hits toward the end of this game.

After Morgan Ray came into pitch for the Buckeyes in the seventh, the Pack reached base with one out from a bunt single by freshman Sam Russ, followed by a walk to Caraway. Ray bounced back to strike out the next two batters and sent the game to extra innings.

With the Pack in trouble in the eighth inning, left fielder Angie Rizzi made a highlight-reel diving catch, coming toward the infield with two runners on to get the first out. Woodall then came up with a huge strikeout for the second out of the inning and got the last batter to ground out to strand two Ohio State runners on base.

NC State, again, was able to put runners on in the eighth after freshman Lily Bishop was hit by a pitch and Shurbutt came up with another huge hit to move the runner to second. Compton moved both runners with a sacrifice bunt and brought State 60 feet from a victory.

Freshman Chandley Garner came to bat with a chance to win the game and hit a chopper to the second baseman who fired home to get the speedy senior Macauley Prickett, who pinch ran for Bishop, at home. After Rychcik contested the call, the umpires gathered and determined that the Ohio State catcher was blocking the plate before the ball reached home, resulting in the runner scoring and an NC State win.

The rule was revisited be the NCAA this offseason to further explain what counted as blocking the plate. Ohio State coaches, fans and players were furious about the call.

“The call went our way,” Rychcik said. “And looking at it, I immediately reacted and I thought it was 100 percent the right call with the way it developed and what happened. It’s a point of emphasis so it’s been very talked about this year and from what we’ve been told and how it’s been explained to us, I think they got the call right”

NC State showed incredible resilience throughout the game, coming from behind and bouncing back on multiple occasions. Rychcik was really excited to see that only six games into the season.

“When you’re young like us, there’s going to be a lot of challenges in how to keep people up,” he said. “Never getting down pitch to pitch, bat to bat, ball in play to ball in play and we’re learning, that’s one thing we’ve got.”

Raleigh is one of five hosts for this season’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge, with Ohio State and Northwestern representing the Big Ten and Louisville joining the Pack for the ACC. Each team plays both the teams in the other conference twice.

“We have to keep the momentum going,” Rychcik said. “Ohio State is ranked and Northwestern is getting votes, so I mean they are big challenges. As a young team, we just have to keep the momentum going, don’t get too high when you win, don’t get too low when you lose and keep that balance and we’ll be okay.”

The players and coaches really loved the atmosphere and crowds on day one and hope the excitement continues through the weekend.

“As a freshman, it’s crazy. I’ve never had this much adrenaline.” Shurbutt said. “A bunch of people here watching us, it’s a great experience.”

NC State will be back in action tomorrow at 12:30 pm to rematch Ohio State, followed later with a game against Northwestern at 5:30 pm to continue the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.