The NC State softball team made history this weekend, winning its NCAA Regional to advance to the Super Regional for the first time ever.
The Wolfpack (38-20, 13-8 ACC) entered the Harrisonburg, Virginia Regional as the 2-seed and defeated 3-seed Fordham twice and top-seed James Madison en route to a perfect record.
Early in the season, most State faithful would not have expected this to be the year for the Pack to earn a berth in the Super Regional. A 3-6 start to the season followed by mediocre play early in the conference schedule gave little hope for much more than an early exit in the Regional round.
However, the State team found its groove late in the season, winning each of its final eight regu-lar season games, six of which were shutouts. Senior starting pitcher Emily Weiman (31-15) tossed her third career no-hitter against Appalachian State on May 2.
The Wolfpack bats came through strong at the end of the season, recording at least eight hits per game in each of its final eight regular season games.
In the ACC Tournament, the Pack proved its late-season run was not a fluke, ousting 4-seed Louisville in the first round before falling to No. 9 Florida State in the semifinals.
The late-season surge landed State in its third-straight NCAA Regional and the team’s fifth in program history. The Pack earned a favorable draw, as the top team in the pool was James Madison, ranked 15th out of the 16 regional hosts.
Fordham and Binghamton, two teams that State defeated in the regular season, rounded out the Harrisonburg Regional field. Both teams attended the Hyatt Place Invitational in Raleigh from March 13–15, and both were shut out by the Pack.
The Pack opened the Regional tournament with an offensive explosion, dropping Fordham, 12-5, in the first game to advance to the winner’s bracket. Trailing 5-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth, State knocked in six runs to essentially seal the game.
Senior Renada Davis went 2-for-3 from the plate, earning two runs and driving in two more. The team captain also extended her hitting streak to 13 games.
In the second game, Weiman dominated top-seeded James Madison, allowing just one hit and striking out eight en route to a 2-0 victory. With the victory, Weiman topped 30 wins for the third-straight season.
With the win, the Pack entered the regional final undefeated for just the second time in school history.
After beating Fordham, the Pack beat JMU in the losers’ bracket, the Pack and the Rams met for the third time. The result was the same: an NC State victory.
However, this game was much tighter than the previous two. Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sev-enth, junior first baseman Maggie Hawkins drilled a walk-off home run for the history books.
Hawkins played phenomenally throughout Sunday’s game, going 3-for-3 from the plate and driv-ing in both of State’s runs.
From here, NC State enters 16-team tournament for the NCAA Championship. The Pack will travel to Eugene, Oregon to face the No. 2 Ducks in a best-of-three series.
Though Oregon will be a formidable opponent, the Pack is playing its best ball at the right time and will surely make things interesting.
