Charlotte Rallies From 5-0 Deficit With Eight-Run Seventh to Beat NC State
Never Quit Charlotte.. Never Quit
Coach Courtney Breault’s Charlotte 49ers softball team trailed NC State 5-0 heading into the seventh inning on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C. What happened next is the kind of thing that doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it could very well change a season.
Charlotte is a team you can never count out. They have the confidence and belief even through tough times that it can all come together, and Tuesday it did in the most dramatic way possible.
The 49ers visited the Wolfpack, and after NC State jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, they had to stop the leak before it became a full-blown bust. That is when they went to Brooke Bowling, who in my opinion turned in an MVP-worthy performance.
“She was huge for us, just coming in and being a stopper. I think she just had command,” said Breault. “She was attacking hitters early. She had her fastball and she had her offspeed that were both strikes today. She was putting the ball in places that it’s tough for even good hitters to get to.”
The Wolfpack scored a couple immediately after she took the ball, but Bowling settled in from there and never allowed a run again. As the game went on, you saw the confidence from her and the trust she had in her defense. Pitching confident softball turned out to be a huge gain for this 49ers squad.
“I just loved her confidence, her poise, and the vibe that she brought when she got in. I think when you start to see some zeros across the board when you’re out there pitching and on defense, it gives you confidence,” Breault explained. “She’s been a little bit up and down, but just great to see her throw to her potential and do what we know she has the ability to do.”
All while she was putting zeros on the board and only giving up two hits the rest of the way after Kendall Simmers’ second-inning two-RBI double, Charlotte kept working against Morgen Talley and coming up empty.
“I was really impressed with Talley and just the stuff that she has, the command that she had,” said Breault. “I think our bats got better as the game went on. I thought that we got ourselves out a lot and kind of played into her game plan a lot early, but the bats got better from the third, fourth inning on.”
Breault stated that in the last few games Charlotte had trouble coming up with the big hit to bring runners in, and they faced the same struggle Tuesday until the fortunes changed in the top of the seventh inning.
Talley put London Dirks on with a leadoff hit by pitch, and that is where it all started. Lindsay Leftwich went to Wynne Gore and the 49ers felt the momentum swinging their way and proceeded to go to work.
“In the seventh, we were able to kind of put it together, and I think we had done enough for them to think about taking her out. You got to get a little bit lucky too, and I think everything just fell together the right way and the ball bounced today,” said Breault.
Whether it was luck or just destined to be, the 49ers weren’t leaving without a win.
Sydney Lewis gets on with a walk to put two on with no outs. Savanna Nguyen aggressively took an 0-1 pitch and cashed in an RBI-double, 5-1 NC State. Then, after a Jaylah Jarrell ground out, Olivia Williams brings in Carley Keller on an RBI-groundout, 5-2 NC State.
As I sat on my couch watching, I thought back to NC State blowing a seventh-inning lead against LSU earlier in the season. Surely this wasn’t happening to the Wolfpack again?
Then, Teagan Ritchie makes it 5-3 with an RBI-single, and it becomes very evident that Charlotte is passing the bat, and NC State is slipping.
“I think we just had confidence and we kind of had some momentum on our side. Obviously, you get a new pitcher and you get somebody out of the game that you’d been struggling with a little bit throughout, and there’s some momentum that comes from that,” Breault explained to me afterwards. “Then obviously Sav being able to come up and get a huge hit right away. It’s just when the first person can do it, it gives you confidence that everybody can. That was a huge bat by her and just kept it going down the line.”
That is exactly what happened. This team just kept it simple, passed the bat, and took full momentum away from an NC State team that just needed one more out to get out of this, but it was Charlotte’s to take.
After Jenna Lord and Brelyn O’Hearn singled to load the bases, the damage proceeded with an Audrey Wilson two-RBI single to tie the game at five.
“Hitting is contagious. We just kind of felt it the whole inning,” said Breault, and you couldn’t describe it any better than that. The 49ers came into the seventh inning with three hits the whole game, and proceeded to take turns getting on.
Then, with runners on first and second and the game knotted at five, it was Dirks who delivered the final blow. The same player who started the inning by getting hit by a pitch and was the first to score put the knockout punch on the Wolfpack with a three-run homer to take the 8-5 lead that would stand at the end.
“London, who started the inning getting hit by a pitch, comes up and gets the big hit to give us some breathing room,” Breault recalled. “Just really proud of the girls and proud of the effort and the never-quit attitude.”
This never-quit attitude came up huge, and going forward restores some confidence in this bunch after an up-and-down season. With the 49ers heading into their second weekend of conference play at USF, a day like Tuesday in Raleigh could serve as a boost.
I asked Courtney Breault what the outcome of this game could do for them going forward.
“It’s huge. We’ve had a little bit of an up-and-down season. We’ve had some really great weeks and great moments, and we’ve struggled some with a tough schedule. But just being able to come out here and have some things go right for us, we’ve been searching a little bit, just like I mentioned, the runners in scoring position, getting the big hit, but also just being able to shut some teams down and keep a score kind of where we still have the ability to go outscore a team.”
Charlotte is a team that is well capable of big wins. This season, they’ve taken down the likes of Clemson, Michigan State, and Virginia Tech, but they’ve also faced some tough losses where they couldn’t put it all together that resulted in close losses. So, being able to get it done at NC State at least gives them confidence in knowing they can get it done, even if it was late.
“For us, just putting a game together and obviously having a huge comeback, you’re not going to be able to score eight runs in an inning a lot of times, and you’re not going to be able to be down 5-0 going into the seventh and go win that game. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s a huge momentum booster and confidence booster. Just a great feeling for us to have going into the weekend, being able to beat a great team and obviously going into a big conference series against a great team in South Florida. We’re just excited to get this one and get to Tampa.”
