NC State softball (20-16) will host Syracuse (15-19) in a conference series this weekend at Dail Softball Stadium. Beginning Friday evening, the Wolfpack will compete in hopes to take its second straight ACC series.
The Orange recently faced Notre Dame and it came out on top 2-1 for its first ACC series win and later defeated Canisius 9-6 in a midweek matchup.
This will be the 14th meeting between the two teams and NC State goes into the weekend with a 7-6 win advantage over Syracuse. In the past three seasons, the teams have traded series wins, but last year the Orange swept the Wolfpack during the regular season.
In the Pack’s past two games, its pitchers in the circle secured nine or more strikeouts, making it the fifth time this season that a single pitcher has sported a number that high. Freshman Sydney Nester tallied 11 strikeouts in the 4-2 win over Winthrop, making it the third time she’s recorded double-digit K’s. Junior Devin Wallace had a similar outing against UNC-G when she fanned out nine batters.
Offensively, NC State has shown a lot of talent when up to the plate because of players sporting multi-hit games. With a combined three runs in the win against Winthrop, sophomore Sam Russ, sophomore Randi Farricker and senior Natalie Jones tallied up six of the Pack’s nine hits. Russ garnered another multi-hit game against UNC-Greensboro when she went 2 for 3 and sophomore Chandley Garner went 2 for 2.
Russ’s leadoff solo homer against UNC-G gave NC State its 40th home run of the season, tying for eighth in program history.
Leading Syracuse in batting is Alicia Hansen who is carrying a .333 batting average and 33 hits on the season with one home run. Not too far behind is Neli Casares-Maher, who leads the team in doubles with eight while recording a .472 slugging percentage and 11 RBIs. In total, the team averages 6.5 hits per game with 4.79 runs scored.
In the circle, Alexa Romero leads the Orange with a 9-5 record holding onto a 3.39 ERA this season. With 15 starts, Romero has only given up 74 hits, giving her the number-one spot on the pitching roster for Syracuse.
NC State will open up its series Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. at Dail Softball Stadium. Saturday’s matchup with start at 2:00 p.m. and noon on Sunday with live coverage from ACC Network Extra for all three games.
