Wolfpack Make Deep Run in Tourney, Fall Short of Title Game Twice
For a while it was looking like 2004 might be the year. NC State won a division title and drew a #5 seed in the end-of-season tournament. The Wolfpack were two runs (and two players) away from an undefeated regular season. The Pack had not appeared in a title game since 1999, and the league was a lot smaller back then. Could they run the table?

The first test early Saturday morning was 28th seed Wisconsin and the Wolfpack easily dispatched the Badgers 16-3. Next up was #12 William and Mary. The Tribe have been a strong tournament team, but it wasn't enough to keep the Pack from winning. Coach Ed "Slide Charlie Brown Slide!" Taylor went headfirst into first base to keep a late rally alive. (Generally, it is faster to run through first base, but why let fundamentals get in the way of a good play?) NC State eeked out a 5-3 "Cardiac Pack" win.

Once again, NC State survived to come back Sunday, which was quite a feat this year as the 1, 3, 4 and 8 seeds didn't escape Saturday without a loss. Cornell (#4) and East Carolina (#8) were both out of the tournament the first day. Ed's slide into first left him with a sore throwing arm - a bad sign given the team's shallow bench - but he vowed to play through it.

The Pack was expecting Cornell but got #45 Texas A&M to start off Sunday morning. The team had no problem with them in the regular season but this meeting was another close one, with the Pack winning 9-7. After a brief rest it was time to take on #9 Colgate. It was close early on but the defense held and Wolfpack bats warmed up in the late innings. Left fielder Phil "are beer helmets legal out here?" Blalock made a sweet sliding catch and rookie phenom Will "Candypants" Lawrence ended the game with a 3-run walk-off homer over the left field fence. NC State trounced the Red Raiders 18-5.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there.

Next was top-seed Maryland in the semifinals. The winner would advance to the title game. The loser would drop to the loser's bracket and get one more chance. The Terps dropped plenty of bloop singles in front of the outfield to steadily work their way to a six-run lead. The Wolfpack kept sending up easy pop-ups and never could climb back into it. The turtles sent the wolves to the losers bracket with a 7-2 victory.

A demoralized Wolfpack was up against the wall. Again, the winner would play in the title game, but would have to win twice to be crowned league champs. The Wolfpack's opponent? #9 Colgate. They wanted payback and got it. NC State had just run out of steam. The defense made several errors and the bats just weren't producing any offense. Colgate flossed the Pack 13-3. (Maryland went on to beat Colgate 11-4 for the championship.)

The tourney that could have been the big one ended with a fizzle. The Wolfpack would have to live with third place.

"Well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes it rains. Heck it did all three this weekend," said Coach Ed during the post-game press conference. "It's the farthest this team has been in a long time."

The third-place finish means Ed is eligible for bag-of-limes performance bonus in his contract. "If he wants the case of Corona to put those limes in, he knows he's gotta run the table," said team owner Alex "Tightwad" Storey. "The off season is going to be filled with tough contract renegotiations. Will's probably gonna want his candystripe pants washed and pressed for each home run next year."

The Wolfpack's season ended with a 16-4 record.

Wolfpack Sidetracked by Krispy Kreme, Forfeits to WV; Will Makes HR Derby Finals
With a #5 seed locked in, Coach Ed Taylor told his team to start preparing for the tournament, but half the team got stated a bit too early. With only 8 players on the roster - one short of the 9 needed to play - the venerable Mister Ed had to concede a forfeit to #17 West Virginia on Friday.

"Dadgummit!" he said during his weekly call-in radio show from the top floor of Crystal City Sports Pub. "I told them to start carbo-loading for the tourney but we had to play the Mountaineers first! Geez!"

Nearly half of the Wolfpack squad was stuffing their gullets at Krispy Kreme in Alexandria, a few miles south of the ball field.

"The tourney is a long, grueling meat-grinder. You gotta fuel up for that," said team owner Alex "Creampuff" Storey as he scarfed down another sugary ring of delight. "That, and Caroline ("Cruller" Kao) said she could do this neat trick with a doughnut so I just had to see it."

Now you're probably thinking this is headed for something kinky, but no... this is a family publication. The trick was fashioning a set of eyeglass frames out of two chocolate iced doughnuts and some coffee stirrers, which is far more difficult than it sounds. She put them on, pulled her shorts up and walked around doing her best nerd impersonation. Hilarity ensued. Janet "Bearclaw" Snyder laughed so hard she fell out of her chair. (The trainers say she will recover in time for the tourney.)

Amber "I Flip for Flip Cup!" Huffman was busy loading up on liquid carbs in anticipation of a long night of the competitive relay drinking game at the Bottom Line. "Look, you heard the coach. He said load up on carbs, so I am!" she beamed as she downed a gulp of beer and flipped the cup over in one try. "Boo Yah!"

The Wolfpack's regular season ended with a 12-2 record. The road to the CAN league championship begins at 8:00am Saturday versus #28 Wisconsin (6-8), who beat #37 Bucknell in Tuesday's play-in round.

On Saturday, the Wolfpack showed off their Rookie of the Year in the league's Home Run Derby. Will "da Thrill" Lawrence brought his big stick to the Mall and gave everybody a taste of the hurtin' he has put on opposing teams. He smacked 12 runs in the opening round, 2 in the semifinals and 2 in the final round but fell three runs short of the title. (Batters from Michigan and William & Mary hit 5 each and had to slug it out in a sudden death round. The Bill & Mare slugger fell short of the fence on the second ball, handing the title to the Wolverines.)

"I just showed up and hit the ball," said the sickeningly modest rookie.

Tall Grass, Terps End In Streak for #2 Wolfpack
Well, all good things must come to an end.

NC State kept chugging away throughout the season and worked its way up to #2 in the CAN Coaches Poll after a four-game week. Even the flip cup team represented at a league party Saturday night, confounding the experts (who didn't even think the Red and White knew how to play the game) to make it to the semifinals.

Box Score NC State 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 6 Maryland 4 0 3 1 1 0 2 - 7

Even with the division title in the bag and a bye to the third round of the league tournament, there were still foes to face. Tuesday's contest was against ACC rival Maryland, and the 4th-ranked Terps have a history of confounding the Wolfpack sluggers.

This game was was decided by two factors, a good Terp infield and really tall grass. The lawn on this particular part of the Ellipse hadn't been mown recently, so both teams had to contend with ankle-high grass throughout the infield. The Terps had better luck with the grass, but just barely.

NC State jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead but the Turtles responded with some well hit line drives to get up to 4-3 after two innings. Then the pack started hitting the rough. Sharply hit grounders that would be easy singles anywhere else were sucked up by the tall grass to make for even easier outs. Maryland slowly chipped away at the lead and pulled ahead 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth. Down two runs in the top of the seventh, the Pack tried to rally ut could only muster one run. Maryland stuns NC State 7-6.

"Well, the pressure's off now," said Greg "Too Tall" Marlow after the game, but there was still some unfinished business with Baylor. When we last left the curiously green Bears, the Pack was out to a 13-9 lead before rain halted the game in the middle of the sixth inning. Two months later, it was time to finish them off.

After shutting down Baylor in the bottom of the sixth, the Wolfpack put on a batting clinic. The grounders that died in the grass against Maryland just kept going on the field at the foot of the Washington Monument. Will "Nice Pants" Lawrence even legged out a seeing-eye home run in a 14-run pounding to put the Bears away for good, 27-9. "That's whay they get for disrespecting my gals," said flip-cup captain Amber "Flip" Huffman, referring to the rough treatment the team received from the Baylor flip-cup squad a few days earlier.

The Pack is still #2 in the polls and in the BCS rankings but that will likely change next week. Villanova is the only unbeaten team left in the league with three games to go, so the regular season title and the top tourney seed is still up for grabs.

The Wolfpack squad has a long rest before its regular season finale against #15 West Virginia on Aug. 6.

Wolfpack Tames Huskies, Trees Nittany Lions; Sews Up Austin South Division Title
The hellacious week started well and had an even better ending as NC State locked up its first division title in several years.

Box Score NC State 5 0 3 3 1 10 1 23 UConn 0 4 2 2 6 1 3 18

The games would be decided on the Ellipse, and the White House made for a nice backdrop for the Wolfpack bench. First up in Saturday's doubleheader was lowly Connecticut, a pack of Huskies that looked pretty run down on paper with a 1-7 record. NC State got off to a solid start behind doubles from Phil "Bulldog" Blalock, Bruce "Boxer" Baldwin and Will "Labrador" Lawrence. The UConn offense went down pretty quickly in the bottom of the first, with Bruce recording his first of two strikeouts in the game.

Will Lawrence cracks a solo HR to right center against UConn.

The second inning was the reverse of the first: the Pack was held scoreless, while the Huskies put four runs on the board. Will led off the top of the third with a solo homerun to right center field. Bruce followed up with a triple. Caroline "Cocker Spaniel" Kao drove Bruce home with a single, and she scored on a sac fly from Janet "German Shepherd" Snyder to take an 8-4 lead into the bottom of the third. NC State worked up to a 12-8 in the top of the fifth inning behind a solo home run by Jeffrey "Boston Terrier" Taylor.

Then the Park Police interupts the game to set up a security cordon, driving everybody – players and tourists alike – into the outfield. Was Dubya going to fly over in Marine One? Would the motorcade be coming by? Well, absolutely nothing happened for 20 minutes, then the Park Police gave everybody the all clear. Was it all for practice? Did the Secret Service want to give UConn a breather? Nobody knows for sure, but the Huskies woke up on offense after the delay, racking up six runs to take a 14-12 lead.

NC State had had quite enough of this and proceeded to unload on the Huskies in the top of the 6th. Will led off with another solo home run. The Bruce racked up another double. Caroline follwed up with a single and Brian "Bloodhound" Copeland drove them both home with a double. Alex "Schnauzer" Storey and Amber "Bichon Frise" Huffman each drew walks, while Phil, Ed "Coonhound" Taylor and Will kept the offense going with two doubles and a triple. When the dust settled, the Wolfpack was out to a 22-14 lead. UConn would pick up a few more runs but it wouldn't be enough to pull the upset. NC State wins 23-18.

NC State's 2003 regular season came to a disappointing end at the hands of Penn State. The Nittany Lions beat the Pack 11-7, ending a six-game winning streak and dashing the team's hopes of a division title. Coach Ed was not about to let them ruin another Wolfpack streak.

Penn State scored two runs in the top of the first but a nice diving catch by Phil in left field save another two runs. Phil and Ed started off the Wolfpack with singles and Will drove them all in on a three-run homer to right field for a 3-2 lead.

Janet Snyder reaches for an RBI single against Penn State as Coach Ed Taylor looks on.

Penn State scored one run in the top of the third to briefly tie the game at 3-3. Then the Wolfpack started toying with their feline prey with base hits by Ed, Will, Bruce, Caroline and Greg "Great Dane" Marlow. Nick "Junkyard Dog" Higgins cracked an RBI double, then Janet and Phil followed up with RBI singles. The Wolfpack went in for the kill with three consecutive homeruns by Jeffrey, Ed and Will. NC State posted another 10-run inning and led 13-3 after three innings. Penn State's deep batting order wasn't enough to keep the Pack at bay and NC State coasted to a 22-7 win.

The wins sealed up the Austin South division title for the Wolfpack. Along with the title, the team is assured a bye into the third round of the sprawling 48-team CAN league tournament. A conference title is still a possibility, but the 11-0 Wolfpack would have to win out and hope that both #1 Villanova (10-0) and #2 Michigan (11-0) lose a game in the final stretch.

State's next game is Tuesday against #3 Maryland, who clinched the DaveO South division title. Both squads will be playing for tournament seeds, pride and, most importantly, ACC bragging rights as neither has lost to an ACC opponent. The continuation of the Baylor game has been pushed back to Tuesday.

#4 Wolfpack Hooks Longhorns, Sends Deacs Back to Sunday School
A hellacious week got off to a great start for the NC State alumni softball team. The Wolfpack moved up a spot to #4 in the CAN coaches poll and picked up its first ever first-place vote. But the team didn't know this yet and played like they still have something to prove.

First up on Monday was #11 Texas, the only challenger left for the Austin Conference South Division title and the coveted first-round tournament bye. The author didn't take any notes, but the game wasn't really close and NC State prevailed 15-10.

Tuesday saw the Pack take on 3-5 Wake Forest. This turned out to be more of a batting clinic than a game as State shelled the Deacs. "Fast (Enough)" Ed Taylor got some nice hits. Nick "Big Daddy" Higgins drilled a solo home run to left field. Greg "Too Tall" Marlow popped a few to right field. Alex "All Hit, No Catch" Storey legged out a triple. Claire "Boo Boo" Hackney got a hit, and so did Melissa "Swinging Bunt" Thaler, and Amy "I got a Hit! Woohoo!" Johnson. Come to think about it, just about everybody got on base in this one. The Wolfpack easily exorcised the Demon Deacons 20-8.

With the wins, the Wolfpack pulled to a 3 game lead over Texas in the division and remain one of three unbeaten teams (out of 48) left in the league. The "magic number" to win the division title is now 2.

The team has a doubleheader and change on Saturday as they take on Connecticut (game time ~ 11am) and #14 Penn State before finishing up a rain-delayed game vs. Baylor.

#5 Wolfpack Outlasts East Carolina 22-20
It was looking like a rainout last Friday but the rains moved through early, allowing #5 NC State and East Carolina to play a muddy game of softball. The Wolfpack turned on the heat early. Ed "No really, I'm getting too old for this" Taylor cracked a double to right field and Billy "Not the Kid" Parker legged out a triple to power the Pack to a 6-0 lead.

Things really got going in the third as the State bats chipped away at the Pirate defense. Wil "Just call me ROY - Rookie of the Year" Lawrence capped the inning with a two-run homer to left center. Billy picked up two strikeouts on the mound in the bottom of the third, and the Wolfpack was running away with it 14-2.

With the Pack up 22-7 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, Ed called in Alex "Wild Thing" Storey to close. Well, the only thing that closed was Alex's chances for an All-Star appearance as the Pirates shelled him for nine runs in one-third of an inning. Billy came back in and the Pack got out of the inning with a 22-16 lead.

The Wolfpack went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, leaving the door open for the Pirates. ECU was patient at bat, taking opportune walks and making every hit count. They could have pulled it out, but being one female short left them with an automatic out in their lineup and it caught up with them in the end. NC State holds on to win 22-20.

The win put the Pack 1½ games ahead of Texas in their division. NC State is now one of only three unbeaten teams remaining in the league. Along with their Top 5 ranking in the coaches' poll, the team is also ranked #2 in the league's July 2 "BCS" standings behind Villanova (yeah, some folks have way too much free time). For the sake of comparison, UNC is #10, Texas is #12 and ECU is #17 in these standings.

The Pack has plenty of time to rest up for Hell Week, when they play #12 Texas on Monday, July 12, Wake Forest on the 13th and a tripleheader vs. #11 Penn State, UConn and Baylor on Saturday the 17th.

Pack Tops Carolina (Again), Wrecks Ga. Tech in ACC Doubleheader
NC State came in to last weekend's doubleheader with an unbeaten record and a #6 ranking in the coaches' poll, so a lot was riding on these two games. But every NC State coach has an obligation to wallop Carolina, even if it's the only win of the season. And NC State alumni coaches have an obligation to continue Wolfpack dominance over the Tarheels. Coach "Mister" Ed Taylor and the Wolfpack got it done, beating #10 Carolina 11-4. (NC State's record vs. their smurfy rivals - in all CAN alumni sports - is an impressive 15-2.)

In the second half of the doubleheader, NC State simply ran all over the Ramblin' Wreck of Ga. Tech, 22-0. The score says it all.

The Pack has a 1½ game lead over Texas in their division and is one of four unbeaten teams still left in the league. The next game is Friday against East Carolina.

Seminoles Can't Hold Off #6 Wolfpack
It had been nearly three weeks since the seventh-ranked Wolfpack had taken the field. The game against #5 West Virginia was rained out, making for a longer rest than anybody would have liked. The Pack was rusty and it showed in the early innings against 2-5 Florida State.

The Seminoles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but the Pack had just enough offense to keep up. NC State finally got rolling in the bottom of the 6th spurred by rookie-of-the-year candidate Will "Da Thrill" Lawrence, who smashed a home run into the wind in right field. Put that together with some aggressive base-running and a few Seminole fielding errors and you get a 9-5 Wolfpack victory. The Wolfpack (4-0) are now in first place in their division by a half game over Texas.

Up next is an ACC doubleheader on Saturday as the Wolfpack take on Georgia Tech and #12 North Carolina. The first game will start around 11:30am. Come out and cheer on the Wolfpack!

Rain Delays NC State-Baylor Game
#7 Wolfpack Up 13-9 in the Middle of the 6th Inning

Box Score NC State 2 1 0 0 6 4 - 13 Baylor 1 4 0 2 2 # - 9 # rain delay

The seventh-ranked Wolfpack took to the Mall Tuesday to take on the 1-3 Baylor Bears. Their record might not show it, but they have given NC State a hard time in the past and this game was no exception.

The Pack started things off with some solid hitting by Nick "Big Daddy" Higgins, Will "Da Thrill" Lawrence and Caroline "no catchy nickname yet" Kao to take a two-run lead over the division rival Bears.

Brenda "Soccer Freak" Flory led off the second inning with a base hit. (If you've never seen Brenda play - or listen to her whine about having to play - this is a big accomplishment.) Phil "Indablanks" Blalock and "Life of" Brian Copeland put aluminum to whatever covers softballs nowadays to bring Brenda home for a 3-1 lead.

Then things started to get ugly. But ya know it wouldn't be Wolfpack alumni softball with out a dead streak. Starting pitcher Billy "Slip 'n' Slide" Parker fell right onto his keyster trying to field a ground ball down the first base line. The unforced error allowed the Bears to score a run and lit a spark in the Baylor dugout. The Bears popped a few line drives through the NC State defense to take a 5-3 lead.

The Wolfpack offense fell victim to a steady breeze blowing in from right field. Several shots that could've been extra-base hits just hung in the air like Goodyear blimp and the Pack went down 1-2-3 in the third and fourth innings. The Baylor bats kept going, propelling the Bears to a 7-3 lead after four.

Streaks go both ways with the Wolfpack and they got the bats going in the top of the fifth. Caroline racked up her first home run of the season with a nice shot past a right fielder who just wasn't giving here enough respect. Phil also jacked a homer to put the Pack up 9-7. As storm clouds moved in, ace reliever Alex "Tell Me A" Storey took the mound in the bottom of the fifth, giving up only two runs in spite of some horrid pitching. (He blamed it on donating blood from his pitching arm earlier in the day. Yeah, sure, whatever.)

The Wolfpack bats kept it going in the top of the sixth, driving in four more runs to take a 13-9 lead. It became clear that the game wouldn't be finished in time to avoid a washout, so the game was delayed in the middle of the sixth inning. The game will likely be finished the next time the Bears and the Wolfpack play on the same day, which could be a while. Stay tuned....

In the meantime, NC State has a long rest before facing #5 West Virginia (its first ranked opponent of the season) on June 11.

#10 Wolfpack Cruises Past Texas A&M 15-4
Just few days after getting back into the top 10, NC State was ready to show everybody that they shouldn't have dropped out in the first place as they took on division rival Texas A&M.

The Pack barely had the seven guys and three gals needed to start the game. Coach Ed "Buttermaker" Taylor had to get Brenda "Wait... this isn't soccer!" Flory out of semi-retirement and even called up Jennifer "Road Warrior" Viets from the triple-A farm squad in Raleigh to fill out the roster. Even with this pared down lineup, the Wolfpack jumped all over the Aggies. The Pack ran up a 10-0 lead after four innings and just coasted after that to a 15-4 victory, swinging at bad pitches and jogging the bases in the late innings to keep from running up the score.

Center fielder Caroline "Kelly Leak minus the motorcycle punk attitude" Kao and Janet "the second-base version of Amanda Whurlitzer" Snyder finally showed up, but they still showed their A game when they turned a nice 9-4-3 double play in the top of the 6th inning. Billy "Tanner Boyle is my hero!" Parker pitched his first complete game of the season, giving up four runs in the late innings.

NC State (3-0) is still a half game behind Texas for the Austin Conference's South Division lead. They will face the (Drinkin') Bears of Baylor (1-3) on Tuesday.

#11 Wolfpack Overcomes Boston College Surge to Win 14-13
NC State's win over Clemson impressed the league coaches and the Wolfpack moved up a spot to #11 in the weekly poll, almost back up to their #10 preseason ranking. Next up was 2-1 Boston College, a soon-to-be ACC rival.

The game started fairly slowly, with NC State scoring the first two runs. The Pack defense made some good plays, including a double play off a short fly to right field scooped up by rookie phenom Will "The Thrill" Lawrence. The Eagle runner on first didn't give Will enough respect and got rewarded by being the back end of a double play whils scurrying back to first. The score was 2-2 after two hot sweaty innings.

Then the Wolfpack cranked up the offense in the bottom of the third inning, with Will smashing a two-run homer to left center to propel the Pack to a 5-2 lead. But the Eagles took off in the top of the fifth, sending several line drives down the third-base line to take a 13-5 lead. Both coaches seemed to think the game was over and called the bullpen for their closing pitchers. For NC State that meant getting team owner Alex "Skybox" Storey out of his phat luxury suite to play for a change. "Heh, I'm like that proverbial singing fat lady: When I take the field the game's over," he quipped as he downed his last bite of caviar.

The Wolfpack offense put up a huge two-out rally and made short work of the new Eagles pitcher. Caroline "Club Seats" Kao started it off with a single, then Alex and Melissa "Outfield Bleachers" Thaler sat back and each drew a walk. Then a BC outfielder bobbled a Greg "Upper Deck" Marlow pop-up, allowing Caroline and Alex to score, and that's when the floodgates opened. Just about everybody in the lineup scored, and Will cracked another homer to put the Pack ahead for good, 14-13. Billy "Bullpen" Parker picked up his second win of the season and Alex got his first save in, um, a really long time.

NC State (2-0) is just a half game behind Texas for the Austin Conference's South Division lead. They will face division rival Texas A&M (1-3) on Tuesday.