After dropping the first two games of The Raleigh Times tournament, NC State softball rebounded prolifically, sweeping the day with back-to-back run-rule victories in an 8-0 shutout of Queens and a dominant 14-1 outing against UNC-Wilmington.

“It was great to bounce back from yesterday and show up and do what we needed to do in the box,” said head coach Lindsay Leftwich. “I thought the pitchers were great again today and we supported them better defensively. It was awesome.”

Game 1

Though not recording a hit in its first two at-bats, the Wolfpack (14-7) managed to get both runners on base via an error and a walk. With a runner in scoring position and one of its best batters at the plate — senior right fielder Taylor Ensley — and no outs, it seemed inevitable that NC State would draw first blood. As fate had it, Taylor hit a single to right field that brought home her younger sister, sophomore left fielder Tori Ensley.

With Taylor now in scoring position, junior catcher Hannah Church reunited the sisters with a two-RBI single to give the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead. Starting in the pitcher’s circle, sophomore righty Carly Maxton gave the Royals nothing to work with, giving up just four hits for her third shutout of the season.

Taylor Ensley kept the bats hot in the second inning as she recorded her second RBI of the game with a single down center field, bringing junior center fielder Ellie Goins home as NC State continued to apply pressure up 4-0.

The Wolfpack stranded two runners on base in the third inning, but made up for it in the fourth inning. More specifically, Taylor Ensley made up for it. In her third appearance at the plate, Taylor crushed her sixth home run of the season to give the Pack a 5-0 lead. With Maxton’s dominance in the pitcher’s circle, everything was going right for the red-and-white.

NC State finally staggered in the fifth inning, again stranding two runners on base. However, it was simply because an Ensley didn’t make an appearance in the batter’s box. Tori Ensley opened the bottom of the sixth inning with her first home run of the season, marking the first game where both Ensley sisters recorded a homer. Two more runs in the sixth inning put the cherry on top for the Wolfpack, effectively ending the game with an 8-0 run-rule.

Game 2

Riding off the momentum from Game 1, it seemed as though nothing could stop the Wolfpack. Junior righty Wynne Gore forced three straight Seahawks’ ground outs in the top of the first inning, allowing the Wolfpack to draw first blood. In the bottom of the first two of NC State’s first three batters got on base without recording a hit via a hit-by-pitch and a walk. With two runners on base, Church blasted her team-leading seventh home run of the season over the back wall to give her team a 3-0 lead.

Neither team could manage anything offensively in the second inning, combining for just one hit in the frame. However, everything changed in the third inning.

UNCW recorded two hits in the third as it marked its first run of the game, seemingly preparing to fight its way back into the match. But it all came undone when the Wolfpack picked up its bats in the bottom of the third.

The Seahawks pitching staff simply fell apart. All nine players in the lineup got on base in one way or another, all the way until Taylor Ensley’s second at-bat of the inning, where she recorded a pop out. NC State recorded just three hits in that time, walked five times. Redshirt junior first baseman Michele Tarpey and senior third baseman Hannah Goodwin both recorded RBI singles, another run came from a walk while the bases were loaded and two more came from wild pitches. By the time Taylor Ensley ended the Wolfpack’s streak, five runs had been added to the scoreboard.

“It was great,” Leftwich said. “Scored a lot of runs, did what we needed to do. It was exciting. We challenged [the team] to come back and be better than they were yesterday. And they did that.”

But NC State wasn’t done. Once again, another walk with the bases loaded gave the Wolfpack a free run. With the bases loaded, Tarpey crushed a deafening homer, marking her second of the season and first grand slam, punctuating a 10-run inning as the Wolfpack led 13-1.

“I just wanted to do it for my team and finish and close it out,” Tarpey said.

The damage had been done. Deflated and dejected, the Seahawks responded to the juggernaut of an inning with no hits in the fourth inning as Gore continued to dominate in the pitcher’s circle. NC State scored one final run in the bottom of the fourth and with a scoreless top of the fifth inning from UNCW, the officials called the game due to a run-rule.

With the team so close to its ACC schedule, dominant days such as these are crucial for team development as it prepares to battle one of the best softball conferences in the nation.

“I think we’re in a great spot,” Leftwich said. “I think we got to continue to play clean defense and have good, productive at-bats. That’ll set us up to score the runs that we need when we need them.”