Coming off a season where NC State softball didn’t reach the 20-win mark in 2023, first-year head coach Lindsay Leftwich flipped the program in a positive direction with a 30-23 record in 2024.
Despite a positive overall record, the team finished with a dismal 6-18 record in conference play. The team’s only conference series win came in the final three games when it swept Pittsburgh — the worst team in the ACC.
“Our record doesn’t represent who we have become and what we have done,” Leftwich said following the team’s sweep over Pittsburgh last year. “I understand where we’re headed, where we’re trying to be and where we’ve grown from and it’s definitely not enough and not how we wanted to finish the year, but I am proud that they found a way to fight through it here at the end.”
And its record was not representative of what the team did accomplish nor what it can in 2025.
Last season, the Wolfpack faced the best teams in the conference. The Pack had eight series against ACC teams and six of them were against the top six teams in the conference. Notre Dame and Pitt were the only teams the Pack played in the bottom half.
Seven of NC State’s 18 conference losses came by a difference of two or fewer runs. In its limited wins, the Pack earned some big ones like taking down then-No. 8 Clemson, then-No. 15 Virginia Tech and Virginia. The team also earned a big non-conference win against then-No. 22 South Carolina at the Garnet and Black Invitational.
Last season the team dominated when it played at Dail Softball Stadium in Raleigh as it totaled 22 wins on its home field. Only Duke and Florida State — who finished first and second respectively in the ACC — had more home wins.
With a large group of returners from last year and improved performance in front of Wolfpack fans, the team can propel itself from a bottom-dweller to a feisty contender in one of the toughest conferences in the country.
The Pack’s first test comes early against No. 15 Georgia on Feb. 6. In only its second game of the year, the red-and-white face a top-15 team in the Bulldogs.
Because of a sequence of classics and tournaments, NC State will play 11 games before it takes the field at home. Wolfpack fans will get to cheer their team on for the first time in Dail on Feb. 21 when it kicks off the Marucci Classic against Illinois.
The Marucci Classic is the beginning of a 12-game homestand for the Pack where it will have plenty of opportunities to find its feet before it begins ACC play on the road in Atlanta on March 7.
Facing Georgia Tech, and then Notre Dame a week later, the Pack has an opportunity to take the gold from two teams who swept it just a season ago.
Compared to last year’s schedule, the Pack will only face two new opponents: Boston College and UNC-Chapel Hill. While holding a strong grasp of the historic series against the Eagles with a 31-18 record all-time and an 8-2 record in the last 10 against the Tar Heels, it’s a much different story.
NC State is 25-32 all-time against UNC with its last series win coming in 2014. Going 4-10 in road games in 2024, series away to Boston College and UNC will be key benchmarks early and late in conference play.
If the preseason rankings hold true, the Pack’s first series against a ranked opponent will be when it travels to Tallahassee to take on the No. 8 Florida State Seminoles.
The Seminoles are a perennial contender, having made an NCAA regional every year since 1999 and the College World Series in five of the last 10 seasons. Swept in last year’s series against FSU, the Wolfpack has nowhere to go but up against one of the best softball programs.
No. 16 Virginia Tech and No. 7 Duke are the other two ranked series matchups for the Pack. After winning 5-4 against the Hokies in the first match, the Wolfpack was mercy-ruled in each of the next two games, getting outscored 26-1.
Against the Blue Devils — who made the College World Series last season — the red-and-white fared better as the first and third games came down to the wire. Series against Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Duke will all be home affairs and true chances for the Pack to earn signature wins.
With a bit more bat luck and wins going the Pack’s way, don’t be surprised if it knocks off some notable teams this season as Leftwich and the squad continue to find their identity as a team.
