The NC State softball team played back-to-back games against Syracuse Saturday afternoon, losing the first 5-2 but bouncing back in game two to win 7-2.
Offensively, the Pack (21-17, 3-8 ACC) struggled in the early game, collecting just two hits and none after the second inning. For the second game, Orange (16-20, 5-6 ACC) starting pitcher Miranda Hearn gave up seven runs on seven hits in her six innings.
In the first game, junior Devin Wallace didn’t have her best stuff, giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits and walking four through just four innings. However, freshman Sydney Nester picked her up on the second try, tossing a complete game with just two runs and four hits allowed.
Junior Skylar Johnston and sophomore Sam Russ were the only Pack players to get hits in the first game. They also knocked in the only Pack runs of the game as Johnston’s was a first-inning, two-out RBI double and Russ hit a solo home run in the second inning.
Syracuse didn’t take the lead until the fourth inning where it scored four runs to take the 5-2 lead. Wallace gave up four hits in that inning and NC State couldn’t close the gap lat in the game.
Game two was much different as NC State had five players collect a hit, two of whom had multi-hit games. One of those was Johnston, who went 2 for 4 with three RBIs. She hit an RBI single in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, then hit a two-RBI double in the second inning to make it 5-0.
Sophomore third baseman Logan Morris had an RBI groundout in the first and Russ hit a sac fly in the second. In the fourth inning, Morris scored on an RBI double off the bat of junior Brigette Nordberg and senior Jessica Moore scored the Pack’s last run of the day with a solo shot to left field.
Nester’s only mistake of the game occurred in the fourth inning when she allowed a two-out, two-RBI home run to right-center field. Thankfully for the Pack, Nester had more than enough run support to take game two.
NC State will take on the Orange on Sunday at noon with a chance to take game three and the series.
