The N.C. State softball team was eliminated by the Tennessee Volunteers 7-0 at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in Knoxville, whilce participating in its first NCAA Tournament since 2007.
State entered the tournament riding high. The Pack came to Knoxville with a 12-game winning streak and having won 19 of its last 21 contests, including its second ACC Championship in school history the previous weekend in Tallahassee.
The Pack extended that streak on Friday with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over the James Madison Dukes, the first-ever win for the Pack in a first-round regional game. The difference came in the bottom of the sixth inning when senior left fielder Bethaney Wells bashed a two-run homer over the right-field wall that actually hit the James Madison team bus.
“She left one out in my sweet spot, and I did with it what I am supposed to do,” Wells said. “It was what we needed at the time.”
With the win over the Dukes, N.C. State advanced to the winners’ bracket for a highly anticipated matchup against Tennessee.
The Pack was eager to battle the Volunteers, having lost twice earlier in the season to Tennessee in the South Florida Tournament in Tampa.
In Saturday’s contest, the anticipation showed.
Tennessee has appeared in two of the past three College World Series, but N.C. State matched the Volunteers pitch-for-pitch for the afternoon in a highlyentertaining affair.
With two competitive pitchers at the top of their game, the contest was scoreless until the bottom of the 11th inning, when freshman designated player Rainey Gaffin laced a game-winning triple to center field, scoring sophomore infielder Cheyanne Tarango for the only
run of the game.
N.C. State sophomore pitcher Emily Weiman, the ACC Pitcher of the Year and ACC Tournament MVP, went 10.2 innings in the contest, the lone run on eight hits with six strikeouts, two walks and two hit batters.
Weiman threw 162 pitches on the evening.
Unfortunately for the Pack, Tennessee senior pitcher Ivy Renfroe was slightly better.
Renfroe went the entire 11 innings for the Vols, giving up only four hits while striking out 13 and issuing four walks in her extra-inning shutout win.
“I’ve been in fastpitch softball since I was 15 years old and played in some big games on the national and international level,” head coach Shawn Rychcik said. “That’s one of the best softball games I’ve ever been involved with.”
With the loss, the Pack faced a Saturday rematch against James Madison, which defeated Longwood 5-0 after the nail-biter between State and Tennessee.
The game was tied at four when it was postponed until Sunday due to heavy rain. After it resumed, N.C. State scored two runs in the final three innings to advance to the regional championship game with a 6-4 victory.
Weiman ultimately pitched 28.1 innings and threw 423 pitches.
The heavy workload took its toll and Tennessee scored seven runs off Weiman in 3.2 innings to advance.
With the loss, N.C. State finished the season 35-20-1.
Senior outfielder Caitlin Dent, who drove in the winning run in the ACC Championship game against Florida State, along with outfielder Bethaney Wells and infielder Katie Mansilla finished their careers at N.C. State as contributors to the best team in the program’s 10-year
history.
“I am so happy for all three of them,” Rychcik said. “I told them afterward that they put a great mark on their time in the program by winning an ACC Championship and going to a regional championship game. They have helped set the standard for where the program goes from here.”
