North Carolina State University Athletics
Softball Heads to ACC Championships
5/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State and its seven conference softball brethren will meet this week, May 8-11, in College Park, Md. for the 2008 ACC Championships. State, slotted as the fifth-seed, will take on fourth-seeded Georgia Tech on Thursday, May 8 at 5:30 p.m. Live stats for all of the Pack's games at the conference battle royale will be available via GoPack.com, while ACC Select will offer live video streaming online.
Aside from State and the Yellow Jackets, the six other ACC teams are seeded as follows: No.1 North Carolina, No. 2 Virginia Tech, No. 3 Florida State, No. 6 Boston College, No. 7 Maryland and No. 8 Virginia.
This will mark the Pack’s second appearance at the conference showdown as the No. 5 seed (2004).
Here’s a brief breakdown of State’s history at the conference free-for-all:
All-Time Record: 6-7
Seed History: 2004 (No. 5), 05 (No. 4), 06 (No. 1), 07 (No. 2), 08 (No. 5)
By Year: 2004 (0-2), 05 (1-2), 06 (5-1), 07 (0-2)
By Seed: As No. 1 (5-1), As No. 2 (0-2), As No. 4 (1-2), As No. 5 (0-2)
Vs. Seed: No. 1 (0-1), No. 2 (2-0), No. 3 (1-0), No. 4 (0-1), No. 5 (2-1), No. 6 (0-3), No. 7 (0-1), No. 8 (1-0)
Vs. Team: Boston College (1-1), Florida State (1-1), Georgia Tech (0-2), Maryland (0-3), North Carolina (3-0), Virginia (0-0), Virginia Tech (1-0)
Regardless of the outcome of Thursday’s game, State will play at least one more affair. A win over the Yellow Jackets would pit the Pack against the winner of top-seed North Carolina and bottom-seed Virginia on Friday, May 9 at 3 p.m., while a loss would create an elimination game against the loser of UNC and UVa on Friday morning at 10 a.m.
State swept a three-game conference stand earlier this season from the Yellow Jackets (30-28, 9-11 ACC) in Raleigh, but the return of hurler Whitney Humphreys and the re-emergence of GT’s offense helped the Ramblin’ Wreck win seven of its last nine ACC contests to leapfrog the Wolfpack in the conference standings.
The red and white will head to Maryland with a 29-26 (8-13 ACC) record. Alyssa Allbritten leads the conference in doubles (18) and slugging percentage (.656), while Shanna Smith stands first in home runs (12), walks (34) and total bases (104).
Despite taking all three previous meetings this season, State trails in the all-time series against GT, 7-10.
Later tonight, Wednesday, May 7, the ACC will hold its annual banquet for all league teams, coaches, players and staff. ACC Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year, and first and second-team All-ACC recipients will be named and acknowledged at the gala event. A list of Wolfpack award winners will be posted on GoPack.com shortly following the completion of the festivities.
