Softball Set for Road Matchup Against Notre Dame

Friday, March 26

South Bend, Ind.

5:00 PM

NC State

Notre Dame

Softball Set for Road Matchup Against Notre Dame

3/25/2021 4:03:00 PM | Softball

SOUTH BEND, IND. – For the second-straight weekend, NC State softball is set to take on an ACC opponent on the road. The Wolfpack will face off against Notre Dame in a four-game conference series, March 26-28. All four games will be broadcast on ACCNX, with the series opener slated for Friday, March 26 at 6 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
NC State (12-6, 8-6 ACC) is coming off a 2-2 weekend against Virginia. The Wolfpack had solid production in the circle from its pitching staff, including 12.1 innings from Estelle Czech. Czech earned her first collegiate win in the 5-0 series finale, as the freshman did not allow an earned run all weekend. Brooklyn Lucero came in relief in Sunday's game, pitching two shutout innings of her own to complete the NC State shutout. At the plate, Angie Rizzi went 4-for-9 with two triples, three RBI, four runs scored and three walks.

#HOMERUNMINDSET
Entering the week, NC State led the ACC and ranked 18^th nationally in home runs per game, averaging 1.45. The Wolfpack has led the ACC and been in the top-20 every week since opening its 2021 schedule. NC State also leads the ACC in on-base percentage, a mark that ranks 31^st nationally. The Pack has hit 32 home runs through 22 games this season, and its seven shy of breaking into the top-10 single-season marks at NC State.

10 different NC State players have at least one home run this season, including four with five or more. Randi Farricker leads the team with seven, followed by Logan Morris' six.

A LOOK AT NOTRE DAME
This week marks Notre Dame's first home games since the 2019 season. The Irish are coming off a 3-1 series win at Georgia Tec where freshman Karina Gaskins ha four home runs on four-consecutive at bats across two games, bringing in 10 RBI.

As a team, Notre Dame has three of the top five batting averages in the ACC, with Abby Sweet leading the conference with a .529. Sweet also leads the conference in hits and runs per game.

The Irish currently rank second in the ACC in batting average, doubles per game and slugging percentage. They are fourth in the conference and top-40 nationally with a 2.04 team ERA. Notre Dame's pitching duo of Payton Tidd and Alexis Holloway have carried a bulk of the innings in 2021, with Tidd having a team-best 1.70 ERA while Holloway has 67 strikeouts in 56.0 innings pitched.

NC STATE-NOTRE DAME SERIES
NC State narrowly leads the all-time series, 10-9, after a 2020 series sweep days before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The Wolfpack won the three games, 3-2, 5-3 and 5-1. It was the first time since 2015 that NC State had swept Notre Dame and only the second time in program history. The series also marked the fourth-time in program history the Wolfpack opened conference play 3-0.

Sydney Nester earned two of the team's three wins in the circle, pitching two complete games. In the series finale, Nester pitched 7.0 innings allowing just one unearned run on three hits with seven strikeouts.

The Wolfpack last played in Melissa Cook Stadium in 2019, where they went 1-2 against Notre Dame.

UP NEXT
After this weekend, NC State will return to Dail Softball Stadium for a non-conference matchup against North Carolina A&T.