The softball team took a pair of tightly contested games from UNC-Charlotte to improve its record to 20-16. The Wolfpack overcame a four-run deficit and 15 runners left on base to win the first one in nine innings and ended the second game in the bottom of the 10th.
The two games ended in virtually the same way–errors on sophomore shortstop Eliza Jacobellis ground balls to second base resulting in the winning runs.
Junior third baseman Claudia Cooper said it was good to win and get back on track offensively after the team scored just one run on seven hits in three games this past weekend against UNC.
“It feels really good, and it’s a big uplifting from last weekend,” Cooper said. “It really helps our confidence.”
After failing in the first game to break a 4-4 tie with runners on second and third with no outs in the seventh and on first and second with one out in the eighth, the third consecutive inning that saw the Pack put a runner in scoring position proved to be the charm.
State finally broke the deadlock in the bottom of the ninth, taking advantage of a walk, a fielder’s choice and a single to center by senior first baseman Mackenzie Mangum before ending the two hour and 53 minute marathon on a ground ball error off the bat of Jacobellis that scored junior outfielder Kristine Bechtholdt from third.
Cooper said it took a total team effort to win after stranding so many runners on base and particularly after the struggles to drive in runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth.
“It takes the whole team to do that. There were some certain situations where we could have come through and we didn’t, but we ended up winning and that’s just us fighting as a team,” Cooper said. “And that means a lot. It shows that we’re all fighting and playing together and that’s really good.”
All this was made possible by junior pitcher Lindsay Campana’s dominating effort in relief of senior pitcher Mendy Mckenzie, who started the game. Campana entered in the fifth and shut down Charlotte, pushing her season record to 10-7 by striking out seven while scattering just two runs over the game’s final five innings.
Cooper said her effort from the mound was crucial, especially because of the late offensive struggles the team had with runners in scoring position.
“Lindsay pitched great, she came in clutch,” Cooper said. “She kept them off the bases and kept them from scoring and that really helps out our offense.”
State continued to struggle with runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fifth of the second game, as it scored no runs despite having freshman outfielder Hannah Ojeda on third and sophomore catcher Alyssa Albritten on second with one out after a successful double steal.
State’s offense threatened once again in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with no outs after three consecutive singles. Sophomore second baseman Alyssa Ishibashi’s sacrifice fly to center field scored freshman left field Bethaney Wells to tie the game at 2-2, but a line-out to the pitcher and a ground-out to third base extinguished the opportunity to take the lead, setting up the second dramatic win of the day for the Wolfpack.
Both pitchers, Mckenzie for the Pack and Katy Hackett for the 49ers, gave up nothing in the seventh, eighth or ninth.
With runners on first and third in the bottom of the 10th, Jacobellis, for the second time on the day, hit a grounder to second that resulted in an error and the win as Wells scored the game-winning run from third.
Coach Lindsay Navas offered a couple explanations for the unusual way the Pack pulled out two games that lasted so long.
“I motivated them a little bit by telling them that they would have practice off if they won it. I’m sure everybody else thought I was going to give them one million dollars, but I am happy it got done,” Navas said. “I guess it was fate, it is a full moon and the Wolfpack came out to work today.”
