The NC State softball team defeated the Campbell Camels in a doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Dail Softball Stadium.
The Wolfpack (19-24, 3-9 ACC) has met the Camels (19-21) 15 times previously with the Pack dominating the all-time series 14-1. Today that record improved to 16-1.
“I’m excited to see what we do this weekend,” Lana Van Dyken said, “I’m glad to see that our bats came alive today.
Head coach Shawn Rychcik has now tallied 399 wins in his four years as head coach.
“We had good run production and we got it throughout the [batting] order which led to us having a big offensive day,” Rychcik said.
Campbell scored first in the initial game of the day but State was quick to respond. Meredith Burroughs grounded out to first base allowing Molly Hutchison to advance to second and Tyler Ross to slide across home. The Pack then quickly made it a 4-1 lead after Hanna Yeager hit a three run homer.
The second inning went scoreless but Campbell rebounded in the third to put up two more runs. By the end of the third the score was 5-3 with State also plating a run by Burroughs as well.
Campbell fell behind by one more run as NC state put up an exciting run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ross hit a triple putting Alyssa Compton across home plate.
“These last couple weeks I’ve been struggling at the plate but today I came out with an attack approach,” Ross said.
Another scoreless inning before the Camels made a run in the top of the sixth. Hutchison hit another home run allowing Ross to score again. Campbell squeezed in one more run but couldn’t keep up as State took the first of the twin bill 8-5.
“We’ve been putting up runs but it hasn’t always been enough so hopefully this game boosts our confidence,” Ross said.
Courtney Mirabella and Harli Hubbard shared the pitching circle with Hubbard retiring Mirabella late in the first game.
The Camels were first to strike again in the second game tallying the first run of the inning. Again State replied with Sommer walking and Ross scoring off a wild pitch.
The bases were then loaded and Molly Martin was pushed across home making the score for the Pack 2-1. Hutchison and Ross advanced bases on another wild pitch and Compton scored. Hutchison and Burroughs then crossed home and made the score 5-1 by the end of the second inning.
State kept at it with Van Dyken, Ross, Yeager and Brittany Nimmo scoring to clinch the game 9-1.
“It felt amazing; I saw my teammates cheering me on and I was just excited to get some good contact,” Van Dyken said of her home run today.
Nimmo started on the mound for the second game with Hubbard stepping in.
“Brittany struggled a little bit but she kept them [Campbell] off balance and Court [Mirabella] battled,” Rychcik said, “Harli came in and did great both games.”
This weekend the Pack faces Syracuse on the road. The previous ACC matchup saw three losses to Florida State so it will be a crucial series for NC State.
