RALEIGH, N.C. – The University of Notre Dame softball team suffered an 11-3 loss to the NC State Wolfpack Friday evening at Dail Softball Stadium. The Fighting Irish went up early, but couldn’t hold off the Wolfpack over the next several innings. The Irish fall to 11-7 on the season and 1-3 in conference play.
Payton Tidd started in the circle. The graduate student suffered the loss, allowing seven earned runs, giving up six hits and striking out a pair. Shannon Becker came on in relief, throwing 3.0 innings, allowing six hits of her own with four earned runs and one strikeout.
At the plate, the Irish offense was led by a pair of two-hit performances. Carlli Kloss and Joley Mitchell each finished with multiple hits. Lexi Orozco, Jane Kronenberger, Tidd, and Rachel Allen each recorded a hit. Tidd drove in two early with a single and Allen connected with her second home run of the season.
How It Happened
The Irish got on the board first, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Kloss legged out an infield single and moved up with on Gaskins’ team-leading 17th walk of the season. A single by Orozco loaded the bases for Tidd who drove an 0-2 pitch to center field to score pair with two outs.
Allen extended the lead with a solo home run on the first pitch of the second inning.
The Wolfpack found some pop in the bottom of the second frame, hitting back-to-back solo home runs by MaKayla Marbury and Amanda Hasler to cut the Irish lead to 3-2.
NC State kept the momentum rolling in the bottom of the third, scoring seven runs. A bases-loaded double and a three-run homer helped the Wolfpack extend the lead to 9-3 after three innings.
The Wolfpack added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to end the contest early.
Up Next
The Irish and Wolfpack are back in action with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. at Dail Softball Stadium.