The NC State softball team finished 3-2 in the FGCU Kickoff Classic in Fort Myers, FL to open the 2018 season.
The season started with a 12-2 mercy-rule victory over Georgetown. Freshman third baseman Timberlyn Shurbutt started the scoring with a three-run double in the first inning. Freshman shortstop Chandley Garner led the offensive attack by going 2-3, including a grand slam in the third inning to help break open the game.
Also, freshman pitcher Kama Woodall threw a complete game, only allowing two runs in five innings. She walked one and struck out two to get the first win of her collegiate career.
Friday night, the Pack faced host Florida Gulf Coast and fell 7-2. Garner and sophomore left fielder Angie Rizzi led State at the plate with two hits apiece. Senior second baseman Alyssa Compton scored both runs for the Wolfpack. Sophomore pitcher Devin Wallace got the start and gave up five runs in five innings and took the loss.
Saturday afternoon the Wolfpack faced the Blackbirds from LIU-Brooklyn. Junior first baseman Cheyenne Balzer opened the scoring with a three-RBI double in the third inning, and State had 14 hits total. Including two each from Rizzi, Shurbutt, sophomore second baseman Haley Finn and freshman right fielder Sam Russ.
Russ scored three runs for the Pack on the way to a 10-1 win in five innings. Wallace got the win on the mound for State, throwing four innings and giving up one run.
The fourth game of the weekend was against the Ball State Cardinals. Woodall got the start for the Pack and pitched well until giving up five runs, two of them unearned in the sixth inning which broke the game open, as the Cardinals went on to win 8-2. Woodall fell to 1-1 on the season.
Russ had three hits to lead the way for State and Compton went 2-3 at the plate as well. The Pack combined for eight hits, but only had one extra base hit, a double from Russ.
State finished the weekend Sunday morning against Memphis and Wallace threw six excellent innings, allowing one run on two hits, while walking zero and striking out seven.
Offense was hard to come by, but Rizzi provided all the Pack would need with a two-run triple in the third inning. That was all the help Wallace and Woodall, who pitched the seventh, would need. The Tigers scored a run in the seventh, and had the tying run on second with none out, but were unable to tie it up against the Wolfpack. State won 2-1 and finished opening weekend with a 3-2 record.
State now enters the Big 10/ACC Challenge next weekend with a 3-2 record. The Pack will face Ohio State and Northwestern two times each at Dail Softball Stadium.
