With three games left in the regular season, N.C. State trailed first place North Carolina by one game in the standings and fittingly, the three games were against each other.

Heading to Chapel Hill for the final series, the Wolfpack knew the team that won two of the three games would win the conference.

But then Mother Nature stepped in, and officials cancelled one of the games due to rain, leaving a Saturday doubleheader, which State would have to sweep to bring home the championship.

They did just that.

The Pack won consecutive 3-2 games to take the ACC regular season title in just the team’s third year of existence. And if that was not enough, two weeks later they won the ACC tournament, again beating the Tar Heels twice in Chapel Hill on their way to the championship.

Coach Lisa Navas, who coached at Carolina prior to coming to State, downplayed the significance of the opponent.

“It was sweet,” Navas said. “But if we had had to play Florida State at their home, it would have been just as sweet.”

For Navas though, the meteoric rise to the top the conference did not come as a shock.

“It didn’t surprise me that much,” she said. “We hoped the kids would understand by their junior year what we were teaching them. We thought we would be good by the third or fourth year, but winning the regular season and the conference tournament was icing on the cake.”

Unfortunately for the Pack, the season ended quickly after that when they were eliminated by Louisiana-Lafayette in the NCAA regional — a fact that Navas hopes will fuel the team’s drive to go farther next year.

“I’m excited about [next year],” she said. “But it’s scary, too. We only lost our second baseman, Tess Corona, who we’re replacing with two kids that will vie for the position.”

“I just want the group that started the program to be hungry.” she added. “We didn’t make it to the super regionals, so I hope they’ll be hungry.”

A key returnee to next year’s team is senior pitcher Shaina Ervin, who was the MVP of the ACC tournament. She said the coach’s fear of complacency is unwarranted.

“Winning just pushes me to become more successful,” Ervin said. “We have new confidence to work harder and achieve more next year.”