The NC State softball team beat UNC-Wilmington 3-2 Wednesday night at Dail Softball Stadium, snapping a six-game losing streak.
Strong pitching and timely hitting propelled the Wolfpack (17-14, 0-6 ACC) past the Seahawks (20-14, 2-1 CAA) for its first win since March 12.
“It was a big team win today,” head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift said. “We did enough to win. Pitchers did well .. defensively we played well and offensively we got a few timely hits.”
NC State struck first in the bottom of the second inning, when a wild pitch strikeout by UNC-W pitcher Rylee Pate scored junior infielder Skylar Johnston from third base.
Johnston led off the inning with a single to left field, and after back-to-back groundouts, stood at third base with two outs and senior second baseman Natalie Jones at the plate. Staring down a 2-2 count, Jones swung and missed on what would have been strike three and the third out, but the pitch sailed to the backstop and Jones beat the throw to first base, ensuring Johnston’s run counted.
The Wolfpack tacked on another run in the bottom of the third inning, when sophomore third baseman Logan Morris ripped a two-out double into the right-center gap, scoring junior right fielder Brigette Nordberg and doubling the Pack’s lead to 2-0.
After junior right-hander Devin Wallace held the Seahawks hitless the first three innings, UNC-W cut the lead in half one inning later, narrowing NC State’s lead to just one run with a two-out double to right field by shortstop Janel Gamache scoring pinch-runner Hunter Bizzell.
Junior center fielder Angie Rizzi answered back the very next inning, smacking a solo home run deep to left field and giving the Wolfpack a 3-1 lead.
“That felt amazing,” Rizzi said. “I went up there and [Patrick-Swift] said ‘take your swing, get after it’, and that’s exactly what I did.”
A single with runners on first base and second base by right fielder Rachel Willis scored a run and put runners on first and third with just one out for the Seahawks. Sensing its lead slipping away, the Pack went to freshman right-hander Sydney Nester to escape the jam and she did her job, striking out back-to-back batters and stranding two runners on base to preserve the Wolfpack’s 3-2 lead.
“That was really big,” Patrick-Swift said. “Her off-speed [pitches] are really good. Hats off to Sydney for keeping a really good offense at bay.”
Nester silenced the Seahawks’ bats for the remainder of the game, striking out five batters and surrendering zero hits and walks in her 2.2 innings of work to pick up the win for the Wolfpack.
Morris (2-for-3, RBI, BB) and Nordberg (2-for-2, run) each picked up two hits for the Pack, but sophomore left fielder Sam Russ’ streak of 22 consecutive games reaching base safely came to an end as she went 0 for 3 on the day. The Wolfpack was able to string together some successful situational hitting, something it has struggled with lately and needed to do in a low-scoring ballgame.
“Especially against teams like this, we need runs,” Rizzi said. “Especially when it’s a close game too, we need runs, so however we can get them.”
NC State returns to action Friday at 6 p.m. when it kicks off a weekend series with Boston College at the Harrington Athletics Village in Brighton, MA.
