NC State softball fell to the No. 11 Virginia Tech Hokies 10-0 at Dail Softball Stadium on Sunday, resulting in a series sweep.
The Wolfpack (21-19, 4-11 ACC) looked to avoid a home sweep and end the weekend on the right note. The Hokies (32-5, 11-1 ACC) were looking for a sweep on the road, a huge resume builder for a team that’s in position to host a regional in the postseason.
For the entire game, it was all Hokies. Virginia Tech got off to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, two runs scored off a throwing error play and another off a fielding error. The Hokies added to their lead with two three-run homers in the fourth and sixth innings. NC State totaled zero runs and only four hits. It made little noise at the plate but never put together a full inning. At the end of the sixth, Virginia Tech was up 10-0, so the game was called due to mercy rule.
“No matter your result, and no matter how many games you lost in a row, you have to continue to go forward, and you have to continue to put the Pack first and care about the name on the front of your chest,” said head coach Lindsay Leftwich. “We are young and in some sports of failure, and we’re learning how to fail forward.”
The game marked the seventh loss in a row for the Wolfpack and the second consecutive ACC series sweep. The Pack’s schedule is not going to get easier with Clemson and Duke still on deck and currently in the top 25. It will surely need to use this series as a learning opportunity.
“We’ve got to pick up the pace and challenge them in fast environments and hope that they make the response that you want, and if the response is different than what you wanted, then you talk about it, and you go back and do it again,” Leftwich said. “We’ll just continue to challenge them and hold them to a very high standard, but then reward them when good things happen and hopefully, you come out on the right side at the end of this.”
Losing at home is a bad feeling, but what is even worse is getting swept at home. One benefit that this can bring is that it can help bring the locker room together and help the players learn to play for the team and not for themselves. This is a mindset that the team will need to take as it hosts No. 25 Clemson next weekend.
“The motivator comes from not placing blame and not looking for an excuse or a reason why, but just knowing that all you can, put your head down, and go back to work,” Leftwich said. “Continuing to remind them what they’re good at and what we’re good at as a group will push us, and nobody wants to feel this, so I think that they’re going to come out fighting and hopefully end up on the other side of it.”
The Wolfpack will play its next game at home on Friday when it hosts the No. 25 Clemson Tigers for the start of a three-game weekend series. First pitch is slated for 8 p.m. on Friday
