NC State softball swept its doubleheader Saturday at Dail Softball Stadium. The first was a 6-5 win against Central Michigan, and the second was an 11-1 victory over Northern Colorado. Junior designated hitter Hannah Church had herself a day going 3-5 from the plate with two home runs.
Central Michigan
The first opponent for the Wolfpack (9-5) was the Central Michigan Chippewas (1-7). In the first inning, both teams got off to hot starts as the Chippewas loaded the bases on multiple occasions, and got two runs off a walk and hit by pitch. The Pack responded with a base hit from freshman shortstop Kendall Simmers that scored sophomore left fielder Tori Ensley.
Both teams went scoreless the first couple of innings before junior catcher Ellington Whitaker broke the silence with a two-run home run, giving the Pack a 3-2 lead. Later in the inning, junior center fielder Ellie Goins hit a double where redshirt junior first-baseman Michelle Tarpey scored.
CMU notched three hits in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead, but NC State responded again. In the sixth inning, Church hit a two-run home run to give the Pack a 6-5 lead. NC State hung on defensively in the seventh to take a 6-5 victory. The Pack’s game against Central Michigan marked just its second contest at home in its first 14 games.
“It’s nice playing at Dail,” said head coach Lindsay Leftwich. “The weather has been cold, but yet good, and the fans have been awesome. I think the team just needed some normalcy. We were missing that.”
Northern Colorado
The red-and-white’s second game of the doubleheader was against the Northern Colorado Bears (3-10), who got off to an early 1-0 lead after a fielding miscommunication in the first inning. NC State responded in the bottom of the first when junior second baseman Makayla Marbury scored on a wild pitch.
The Pack ran the table for the rest of the game, scoring in each of its remaining innings. Its most runs came in the third inning, with a Church homer resulting in two runs, a Goins flyout resulting in one run and a Tori Ensley double resulting in two runs, making the score 8-1.
“I think that under coach Leftwich, we’ve just kind of figured out how to stick to her plan and listen to everything that she’s taught us and bring it into the game,” Church said. “We just have to trust ourselves and trust the plan that we’ve set ahead of time.”
The Wolfpack got three more runs in the fourth inning with a Simmers single and a double from freshman pinch hitter Taryn Massey for her first career hit. This put the score at 11-1 Wolfpack, and with a no-score fifth inning, NC State won in five innings due to the mercy rule. This marked the second time this season that the Pack swept a doubleheader.
“In my time here, we have not played well in the second game of a doubleheader,” Leftwich said. “I was really proud that they came out, got back to work and figured out what they needed to do to be successful.”
The Wolfpack’s next game will be played Sunday at home against Illinois in what will be the final game of the Marucci Classic. First pitch is slated for 12:30 p.m.
