Sergio Guerra, Sports Editor/Photographer  

(Image from UNCG Softball)

UNCG Softball came off a weekend series sweep versus Wofford and faced a week with challenging opposition – a midweek clash against NC State and a weekend SoCon series against Furman. 

First up for the Spartans was NC State’s Wolfpack. NC State came out and got on the board quickly through Taylor Ensley and Payden Bordeau. The first inning would finish 2-0 to the visitors after UNCG was unable to make any runs. The second inning would see little action, with both sounds accumulating three outs without making any forward progress on the bases. 

Samantha Beck would pull one back for the Spartans after hitting a homer in the third inning. This was the lone run of the third and fourth innings. In the fifth inning, NC State would see all its batters grounded out. At the bottom of the fifth, Grace Loftin hit a homer while Samantha Beck was at first and Macy Michael was holding third base. With that, Loftin launched the Spartans into a 4-2 lead over NC State. 

The top of the sixth saw Taylor Ensley hit a homer for NC State with UNCG unable to answer. This built up to a tense seventh inning in which the Wolfpack was only trailing by one. A throwing error early at the top of the final inning by UNCG saw Hannah Goodwin advance to second base for NC State. The Wolfpack seemed as though it was surely going to get the point it desperately needed to keep the game alive, with Lisey St. Jean (who replaced Goodwin) at third and Alaina Smith at first. However, the Spartans made sure no other batters were able to get a hit and held on to a 4-3 win over NC State. 

UNCG took a lot of confidence into their SoCon meeting with Furman the following weekend, and that was displayed in the performances. The Spartans were able to sweep the Paladins over three games with Hadley Gardner scoring four runs across the three games. The result betters UNCG’s SoCon record to 7-2 and puts them second in the conference table.  

The Spartans have a nonconference game against Radford on Wednesday. After that, UNCG will host a top of the table clash with Samford. Samford currently sits first in the SoCon softball standings with a record of 8-1. This upcoming series puts UNCG in a position to finish the weekend at the top of the table.