North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: An ACC Title Within Reach
4/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 27, 2006
NC State-UNC series preview, with PDF notes
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - When Shanna Smith was being recruited by NC State softball coach Lisa Navas two years ago, the Wolfpack softball program was in its inaugural season.
But the more Smith, an all-conference player from Albemarle High School, listened to Navas' sales pitch, the more she liked the possibilities of going with a program starting from scratch. So she chose NC State over North Carolina's more established program.
"What made me want to come here was what Coach Navas was saying," said Smith, now a sophomore shortstop. "I knew what she wanted to accomplish, and she told us from Day 1 that we were going to get the ACC Championship.
"So I wanted to be part of a new program, to help establish things."
But even Smith is surprised that just three years into the program's existence, the Wolfpack (42-18 overall, 12-6 ACC) has a chance to claim an outright regular-season championship. That will be decided over the next two days as Navas and her team travel to Chapel Hill for a three-game series with first-place North Carolina (46-13, 13-5). It begins this afternoon at 5 p.m. with a double-header at UNC's Anderson Stadium.
The two teams will meet again Friday night at 7 p.m.
A Wolfpack sweep will give it the outright regular-season championship. Two State wins will give the Wolfpack the No. 1 seed in next month's ACC Tournament in Chapel Hill and a share of the ACC regular-season title with the Tar Heels.
"I really didn't expect to be in this position until my junior or senior year," said Smith, who leads the team with 25 steals.
Navas, on the other hand, knew that this could be the year the Wolfpack, which finished fourth in the ACC standings and just missed an NCAA Tournament berth last year, could do something special.
"I said it three years ago, that this is what we wanted to do," Navas said. "I think we are at where I expected us to be at in the third year. We still are disappointingly weak with the bats. We are still making immature spots in swinging at the pitchers pitch instead of being patient and waiting for a hitters pitch, taking control of the game. There are a lot of aspects of the game that we still have to get better at."
The Wolfpack has gotten this far with a combination of pitching and defense. Juniors Abbie Sims and Shaina Ervin have notched 35 of the team's 42 victories. The two provide vastly different pitching styles, with Sims being a power strikeout pitcher and Ervin being a ground-ball pitcher.
Sims has 258 strikeouts this season, an average of 9.4 whiffs per seven-inning game. Ervin, at 8-0, is still undefeated against ACC opponents, with batters hitting just .225 against her.
The defense, which is ranked No. 1 in the ACC, begins with Smith, who originally played first base for the Wolfpack, but was switched to shortstop midway through her freshman year. That had an immediate impact on last year's team, setting the stage for this year's breakout.
"I am more comfortable on the left side, because I played third base in high school," Smith said. "Things have been coming together at shortstop. I have more confidence."
Smith uses her speed for good range at the position. She has committed just two errors in the Wolfpack's last 36 games and has only 13 for the season.
"She is just a great athlete that gets the job done, which is what I knew she was capable of," Navas said. "She gets a little emotional at times. She doubts herself. If she believed in herself as much as we believe in her as we do as coaches and knew what she is capable of down the road here, she should be an All-American."
Smith doesn't doubt her abilities at the plate, however. Hitting .277 with eight doubles, a school-record three triples and four home runs from the No. 2 spot in the batting order, Smith gets in scoring position a lot, which is why she leads the team with 46 runs scored.
"I feel like I am the spunk of the team," Smith said. "I feel like if I get on base, I am going to steal a base and I know Jen [Chamberlin] is going to hit me in. No doubt in my mind, if I get on base, we are going to score.
"That's pretty much how I feel."
Smith takes that confidence into the three-game series against the Tar Heels, who have similarly good pitching. However, the Wolfpack took three of four against UNC last year and has a 4-2 advantage all-time in the series.
"I feel like if we hit the ball, we are going to win," Smith said.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
