NC State softball continues the search for its first official win in the early part of the regular season, falling to Kansas 12-4 and falling to Arizona 15-1 in day two of the Candrea Classic in Tucson, Arizona.
The Wolfpack (0-4) hasn’t had a lot of luck down in the desert so far, falling to both the Jayhawks (3-2) and the Wildcats (4-0) in a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 11. Both games ended in five innings.
The first game of the day was a rematch against Kansas, who the Pack lost to 12-6 the day prior. NC State struck first, securing a 1-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI from freshman pitcher Madison Inscoe.
The Pack continued its offense with a single from sophomore shortstop Taylor Ensley. She later scored off yet another single from sophomore third baseman Hannah Goodwin, who brought in two runs and moved the score to 4-0 in just the first inning.
Kansas retaliated quickly with a run of its own in the first and picked up one more in the second before an offensive onslaught of seven runs in the third inning to raise the score to 9-4. Only one of those runs was off of a home run, but the Jayhawks had one more three-run homer to end the game early with a 12-4 tally.
Junior right hander Aisha Weixlmann was credited with the loss and was taken out in the middle of the third after allowing four earned runs. It was Weixlmann’s first loss of the season but not her first appearance — Weixlmann pitched four innings of the first matchup against Kansas on Friday. Inscoe would come in for relief, but her time was short-lived after allowing three earned runs in just six pitches.
After a tough loss, the Pack attempted to recover quickly to face Arizona; however, the Wildcats struck quickly and gained a seven-run lead in just the first two innings. Arizona continued to pour it on, gathering seven more unanswered runs over the next two innings. None of the Wildcats’ runs were off of homers, and they collected 17 hits in a 15-1 victory.
The sole Wolfpack run of the later game was by freshman outfielder Bailey Edwards, who doubled into center in her first recorded plate appearance of the year. She had one of two hits for the Pack, the other of which came from Goodwin.
Freshman pitcher Rylee Wyman was credited with the loss, her third of the season. Her 18.53 ERA will likely be inflated for the next few starts because of these performances.
Goodwin ended the day a combined 2-5 at the plate, tallying two RBIs. Graduate center fielder Rebecca Murray went 3-3 against Kansas and continues to lead the team in batting average at .385, even though she didn’t record a hit against the Wildcats.
The Wolfpack will continue the Candrea Classic with one last game against Arizona, who has won all four of its games by mercy rule, showing the Wildcats’ dominance in the beginning of the season. NC State’s hope will be to secure its first win, but it might have to wait until next weekend when the team returns to Raleigh.
NC State will host the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, playing Iowa and Purdue twice each. The event, starting Friday, Feb. 17 and ending Sunday, Feb. 19, will have the Pack play in a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 18, similar to the Candrea Classic. The Challenge will kick off a 10-game homestand for the Pack.
