Junior pitcher Shaina Ervin came in to relieve junior Abbie Sims after the second inning to guide N.C. State to its first conference championship in the team’s third year of existence with a 4-1 win over Florida State on May 14 in Chapel Hill.
“It was very exciting,” Ervin said. “We played good ball, and we knew FSU had a great team. But I was ready for my opportunity. I knew we could beat them.”
Despite the team’s relative youth, Ervin said the team had confidence in its ability to compete.
“All along, we knew we could do it,” she said. “We just had some growing pains. We weren’t undefeated or anything, but we established ourselves nationally this year. It was just an amazing ride. The day after, we were all like, “Did that just really happen?'”
Coach Lisa Navas said she had to get the team to play together during the ACC Tournament.
“The first time we played FSU, we were squabbling and tempers were flaring,” Navas said. “But we came out two times against UNC…Anyone who has ever coached females knows they squabble.”
After the ACC Championship win, the team went to Baton Rouge, La., for the first match of the NCAA Tournament, in which it lost to UL-Lafayette. After loosing to the Ragin’ Cajuns in the opening match of the tournament 2-0, the Wolfpack responded with a 1-0 win over Princeton to escape an early trip back to Raleigh in the two-loss elimination tournament. In its third game of the NCAA Tournament, State had a rematch against Lafayette, in which the Ragin’ Cajuns proved to be too much, defeating the Pack 4-3 in nine innings.
“I tried to tell them that loosing to ULL is tough, but that’s a team that’s been in the top-15 all year,” Navas said. “I just told the girls they belong there, and we belonged with those quality teams.”
Athletics Director Lee Fowler said he is more than pleased with the performance of Navas and the three-year-old team.
“It really is just great. It’s been only three years, and they don’t even have their own facility,” Fowler said. “We knew we had a great coach in Lisa [Navas], but this is great. We are so proud of everything they’ve done and we look forward to everything they’ll do in the future.”
