NC State softball begins 2023 campaign after tough start

With the Candrea Classic in the books, Wolfpack softball finds itself in a rough 0-5 hole to start the season. Fortunately, the Pack will get to recoup at home with a 10-game stretch.

Where NC State stands

Softball at NC State has been good but not great during head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift’s tenure. She has yet to produce a losing season but sits at a record of 109-81 during those four years.

A winless opening tournament is not the way anyone wishes to begin their season, but it happens nonetheless. The Pack has a dominant 62-25 home record over the past three seasons. That’s a statistic Wolfpack fans are excited to see with 37 home games lined up for this season.

Tournaments

Of those 37, nine come right away as the Pack hosts the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Feb. 17-19 and the Wolfpack Classic Feb. 24-26, split up by one home game against Elon on Feb. 22. Iowa and Purdue will each get two chances at the Pack during the Challenge. Funny enough, NC State is 1-1 against each team over the past 20 years. Penn, East Tennessee State and James Madison will combine for the five games during the Wolfpack Classic.

Looking deeper into the season, the only other regular season tournament NC State is lined up for is the LSU Tournament March 31-April 2. LSU swept the Pack last time it played in Baton Rouge in 2015, as well as winning a 2-1 series in Raleigh just two years ago. This poses itself to be an important midseason weekend for the Pack as the

Home Run

continued from page 12 remaining three games of the trip are split amongst Louisiana Tech and BYU.

Scoring on homers doesn’t guarantee a large amount of points unless the Pack can get runners on base. Hitting a grand slam, or even homers with multiple runners on base, can lead to a quick lead change over an opposing team, but strictly solo shots from NC State hitters won’t cut it.

The Wolfpack softball team and coaching staff seem to only care about hitting the ball out of the park rather than making specific plays to win specific games. If NC State really wants to score a solid amount of runs per game, then it should reel back on swinging for the fences to ensure that runners can get on base and open scoring chances.

Remaining Regular Season

Immediately following the Wolfpack Classic, NC State takes a trip to Blacksburg, Virginia, for a three-game weekend. It’s already been mentioned that the Pack hasn’t traveled well in recent history, but its conference woes are just as much an issue. NC State’s best conference record in coach Patrick-Swift’s tenure was 3-0 in 2020, the year COVID-19 shut down the world. Her best record outside this season was a dismal 15-22 in 2021.

Opening up conference play with Virginia Tech on the road is a crucial opportunity for the Pack to inspire change in these self-built narratives. The Pack is 7-1 in Blacksburg since 2011 and has only lost one series there since 2005.

Even if the team wanted to keep its home run mindset, trying to keep runners on base would allow them to score more points and hopefully win more games in the long run.

Some baseball and softball fans might argue that a higher-scoring team is more fun to watch than one that scores more home runs, but there should be a happy medium between the two. If a team is relying solely on solo shots, then the game gets repetitive and only one member of the team is able to shine.

Patrick-Swift and the softball coaching staff should stray from their “home run or no runs” mentality in order to save the team from another mediocre season. The excitement of hearing the bat crack and the players rushing to make it to the bases can be more entertaining than seeing ball after ball go over the fence.

Returning to Raleigh, NC State will host back-to-back home series against NC Central and Notre Dame. The last time the Irish visited Raleigh was the previously mentioned 2020 series, a 3-0 sweep for the Pack, but when they met last year, it was the opposite. A day trip to Buies Creek, less than an hour-long bus ride from Dali Softball Stadium, for a matchup with Campbell interrupts the homestand as Boston College and Radford occupy the next four games.

The last time NC State went to Louisville, “Avengers: Infinity War” was less than a month from its release date and the royal wedding was around the corner. The Pack also went 1-2 against the Cardinals. NC State has since gone 7-2, but all nine games were played in Raleigh. These two programs have been in very similar spots over the past five seasons, and this series could prove to be a tough, critical one for both sides.

A home game against North Carolina A&T sets up the Pack for the previously mentioned LSU Tournament. NC State won’t return home immediately, however, as it takes a trip up to New York for a threegame series with the Syracuse Orange. The Pack got swept in Patrick-Swift’s only trip to Syracuse, but an ACC tournament win in 2019 and a 2-1 series win last season show a positive trend in this matchup.

After that, the Pack plays 12 of its last 15 games at home. Those lone three road games make up the final series of the season against Pittsburgh. Following a game against USC-Upstate, NC State has backto-back series against Clemson and UNC. Patrick-Swift only has a combined two wins against these teams since joining the Pack, both of which came against UNC. These are the final home conference games of the season, so there isn’t a better time for her to increase that win total.

The remaining home series will be against Norfolk State and East Carolina, which includes Senior Day on April 30. The Pack beat the Pirates 9-6 last season in a comeback win and is looking for its first Senior Day win since 2019.

The ACC tournament will be hosted by Notre Dame this year during May 10-13. The Pack has won two ACC tournaments (2006, 2013) and one ACC Regular Season Title (2006) and is looking to accomplish both here in 2023.