NC State softball defeated Gardner-Webb 8-0 in six innings on Sunday, Feb. 28 at Dail Softball Stadium.
The game was set to be a pitcher’s duel between the Wolfpack’s (8-2) redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Abby Trahan (5.0 IP, 6 K, 0 ER) and Runnin’ Bulldogs’ (0-4) right-handed pitcher Brooke Perry (4.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 BB), but the Pack put up eight runs over six innings to seal the deal early and hold Gardner-Webb to one run over the four-game series.
“A lot of it had to do with the catcher behind the plate and the defense behind me,” Trahan said. “It makes a pitcher’s life a lot easier when you know you’re solid all around. I threw well, but it’s an overall thing.”
The first flurry of offense came in the bottom of the first inning when redshirt senior outfielders Tatyana Forbes (1-3, SB, RBI) and Angie Rizzi (1-2, 2 BB) both drew early walks, and redshirt junior designated player Carson Shaner (1-1, 2 RBI, 2 BB) watched a wild pitch go by to put both runners in scoring position. On the payoff pitch, Shaner hit a lame duck over third base that the Runnin’ Bulldogs’ shortstop was unable to track down, allowing Forbes and Rizzi to score two early runs for NC State.
“She knew what she was looking for up there and what she was going to get based on how she was pitched in the other three games,” said head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift. “She was locked in on a certain location. The good thing about that was that she knew the difference between where that location was and where two balls away from that would end up being a ball. She did a good job with the plate adjustments that she made.”
While no runs were scored again until the bottom of the fourth, Trahan ensured that Gardner-Webb did not sneak back into the game. The transfer from Southern Miss notched four strikeouts in the first two innings before transitioning to inducing weak contact from the opposing hitters.
“I plan on going with the same gameplan of spin the ball and hit my spots,” Trahan said. “[The strikeouts] just happened naturally.”
A trio of singles in the bottom of the fourth amounted to a doubled lead for NC State, as redshirt junior catcher Sam Sack (1-2, RBI) clocked a long single off the wall in right-center field to start the frame. After freshman infielder Kaylee Lambrecht (1-3, RBI) grounded out to shortstop, redshirt junior outfielder Sam Russ (1-3, 2 RBI) and Forbes hit back-to-back RBI singles as both players advanced to second base after the opposing throw to home.
“We didn’t have any home runs today, but we hit a lot of balls hard,” Patrick-Swift said. “There’s going to be days where that happens… We want to be aggressive and selective…aggressive, thinking that every pitch is going to be a pitch they can hit out but also selective, so that they’re not chasing pitches that they can’t hit out.”
After Trahan retired the Runnin’ Bulldogs in order in her last inning in the circle, the Pack put up another crooked number in the bottom of the fifth. Shaner and redshirt freshman Sam Gress (0-1, BB, HBP) both reached base on walks before redshirt senior outfielder Brigette Nordberg (1-1) delivered a pinch-hit single to load the bases.
The next three at-bats, a sacrifice fly by Sack, a single by Lambrecht and a sacrifice fly by Russ, each scored another Wolfpack run, making it a 7-0 NC State lead by the end of the fifth inning.
Redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Sydney Nester (1.0 IP, 3 Ks) relieved Trahan from the circle to start the sixth and soon found herself in a jam. After striking out the first batter, Nester surrendered a single, walk and hit by pitch to load the bases with one out. Patrick-Swift’s visit to the circle at that moment seemed to light a fire under Nester, who struck out the next two batters to end the frame.
“It was just a reminder, ‘Get out there and throw your stuff and throw your game,’” Patrick-Swift said. “She has a tendency to think a little bit more than she needs to and we just want her to go back to keeping it simple, get the pitch call and throw the pitch and she did that.”
NC State quickly clinched the victory in the bottom half of the sixth, as redshirt junior Logan Morris (1-4, RBI) hit an RBI double to give the Pack an 8-0 mercy-rule win despite hitting zero home runs.
“[The series] was a complete staff weekend as far as pitching goes,” Patrick-Swift said. “Holding [Gardner-Webb] to one run all weekend. I don’t know that we can get much more confidence going back into ACCs…Being able to still walk-off a team if we don’t hit the home run, that’s huge too.”
The Pack will resume its home stand when it takes on Georgia Tech on Friday, Mar. 5. The game will be aired on ACC Network Extra at 6 p.m.
