June 6, 2006

Entering its third season of competition after head coach Lisa Navas started the program in 2004, the NC State softball team felt it had the pieces in place to challenge the top teams in the conference and make a splash nationally. Few expected it to be this successful, however, as the team won 50 games, took both the ACC regular season and tournament championships and won a game in its first ever trip to the NCAA Regionals. After losing just one starter for next season, the Wolfpack squad will be a favorite to defend its ACC titles and advance further in the NCAA postseason.

"We will encounter different challenges next year as we continue to improve," Navas said. "It is outstanding what we did accomplish but it is harder to repeat, and the team is hungry to keep on winning."

Combining star performances with a total team effort, Navas was able to assemble a team in three years that has improved its win totals and league finish in each of its first three years. In the inaugural campaign of 2004, the team posted an 11-15 record to start the year, including a span that saw it lose a school record six straight games. That first squad then established the resilience that is still evident today, reeling off 17 wins in the next 19 contests, including a school record 11-game win streak. The 2004 team finished with a 32-27 record and a 3-7 mark in the ACC. Not bad for a first year program.

"They exceeded my expectations by there determination because they had the intangibles to be special," Navas said of that first team. "We had to learn how to win and lose and we did what we could with what we had to work with. It really opened my eyes and showed what this special group could accomplish."

The sequel, in 2005, got off to a hot start with a school record 10-1 beginning to the season. The squad won eight games late in the season and defeated North Carolina three times in four games, including the teams' first win in the ACC Tournament. Overall, the 2005 team went an impressive 41-25 and finished fourth in the ACC with a 7-7 conference mark, narrowly missing out on the postseason.

"Winning 40 games is a big accomplishment in itself, but they finally understood towards the end of the season that we were winning the games we were supposed,' Navas said. "We were getting better, but the games we lost early on came back to haunt us in regards to a postseason bid and that was disappointing considering how much the team improved."

This past season the team finally put it all together. Utilizing a deep pitching staff, stout defense and timely hitting that showcased one of the top power teams in the conference, the 2006 team took the ACC by storm. Picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches' poll, NC State won six of its seven three-game ACC series and swept a doubleheader from UNC on the last day of the regular season to win the ACC regular season title.

With a 14-6 record in the regular season - four more wins than the first two seasons combined - NC State went into the ACC Championship as the No. 1 seed. After a dominating 8-0 shutout of Boston College, the Wolfpack bats couldn't put a run on the board as perennial power Florida State won, 6-0, to put NC State on the brink of elimination. The Pack then went on a historic run to the finals, winning four straight games, an ACC Tournament first, to capture the title. The team won it all with victories over Virginia Tech, North Carolina (twice) and Florida State in the title game, 4-1.

Shaina Ervin was named Tournament MVP, while Shanna Smith and Miranda Ervin were named to the All-Tournament team, the first Wolfpack softball players to be named to the team or selected MVP in the three years of the programs short history.

After the celebrations died down, the team waited to hear where it would be sent as the ACC's automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. Despite a tough draw at the Baton Rouge regional, NC State put up a strong fight showing why it had earned the berth as the ACC's top team. After a close 2-0 loss to No. 15 UL-Lafayette, NC State downed Princeton 1-0 on Jen Chamberlin's school record 13th home run of the season. The junior's bomb gave her 36 on her career, ranking third all-time in ACC history.

Facing ULL for the second time in an elimination game, NC State held a 3-2 lead after the fifth inning and the score stayed the same into the bottom of the seventh. A Ragin' Cajun led off the inning with a solo home run to tie the score, and NC State would lose on a RBI single in the ninth. It was the first time all season that NC State had lost a game after leading through five innings.

"This team provided the consistency we were striving for by playing hard everyday and not getting caught up with anything else but playing the game," Navas said. "It was disappointing to lose that game knowing that we had never lost a game this season leading after that late, but this team will be ready to go in 2007."

Losing just one starter in senior second baseman Tess Corona, the Wolfpack softball program is poised to defend its ACC title in 2007. Perhaps more importantly, it will be the last go-around for 10 Wolfpack seniors, the original group of freshmen that formed the foundation of the program three years ago.