BASEBALL
Normally, sitting third of six teams in your division wouldn’t be anything much to brag about. But NC State is now listed in the top-25 of three different baseball polls archived at yahoo sports. Here is a brief summary of where the ACC teams are currently ranked:
|
|
Baseball |
Collegiate |
|
|
|
|
Baseball |
ESPN |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
6 |
8 |
7 |
|
CLEMSON |
14 |
13 |
15 |
|
NC |
25 |
25 |
23 |
In case you missed the link above, this link will take you to the conference standings at the ACC website.
Here is State’s schedule and results so far this year.
There’s alot of baseball yet to be played, but if you look at the this year’s national rankings from baseball and football…you quickly reach the conclusion that the ACC is closer to becoming a baseball conference than a football conference. (I don’t think that the ACC has won a BCS bowl game since FSU won the National Title in the 1999 season.)
For you old-timers, Ray Tanner is still doing well at SC. They are ranked in the top-5 in all three polls. I also noticed that Coastal Carolina and the College of Charleston were nationally ranked as well. It looks like baseball is doing quite well throughout the mid-Atlantic region this year.
SOFTBALL
After winning the regular season and conference tournament last year, State currently sits in third place in the ACC. Not too shabby for a program that is only in its fourth year of existence. I’m glad no one told Coach Navas that it was better to build a program slowly. She and her staff deserve a ton of credit for all that has been accomplished in such a short period of time.
There is no better correlation between coaching and results on the field/court than exists in college sports. The head coach hires his/her staff, recruits the players, trains, and coaches them. If the results aren’t what you want/expect there is only one place to look. The same holds true when significant accomplishments are achieved. I certainly hope that Fowler is keeping abreast of the salary trends in softball and does what it takes to keep Coach Navas in Raleigh.
Special recognition needs to go to Abbie Sims as well. Last weekend she beat UVa twice on the same day….while pitching a no-hitter in the second game. Needless to say, she was the ACC softball player of the week. This was the third time this season and seventh time in her career of winning this award.
On the week, Sims posted non-conference wins over Charlotte and UNC Greensboro and two league victories over Virginia, including her sixth career no-hitter, a 12-0 victory over the Cavaliers on Saturday. The Artesia, N.M., senior allowed only eight hits against 90 batters, recording three complete games and 34 strikeouts, while issuing just seven walks.
In addition to becoming only the fifth pitcher in ACC history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts (1,032), Sims batted .500 on the week, with two home runs, five runs scored and four runs batted in as the Wolfpack extended its winning streak to 10 straight.
Here’s the remaining softball schedule and the results so far this year.
