May 20, 2006

NC State used Jen Chamberlin's 13th home run of the season and a four-hit shutout by Shaina Ervin (20-3) as the Wolfpack improve to 50-20 with a win over Princeton, 1-0. Ervin tossed her seventh shutout of the season and won her ninth straight decision to tie a NC State record. NC State will now play Louisiana-Lafatette at 7 pm central time for a spot in the NCAA Regional finals tomorrow against host LSU.

Chamberlin got the offense on the board early, hitting her 13th home run of the season in the first, a career-high, for a 1-0 lead and NC State's first NCAA run in school history. It gave Chamberlin 36 career home runs, third all-time in the ACC.

Meanwhile Shaina Ervin cruised through the first three innings, striking out three Tigers batters and allowing just a flare single into right. Ervin and the defense came right back on the next batter, getting Snyder to ground into a double play to short to end the inning.

Shanna Smith reached on an error to start the fourth and Chamberlin grounded out to third to advance Smith to second as NC State threatened. Miranda Ervin then struckout, and Smith moved to third on the wild pitch to bring up Abbie Sims. Sims hit a sharp grounder to third and was called out by a step at first to end the inning.

After a leadoff single in the fourth for Princeton, Ervin struck out a pair of batters and induced a groundout to third to keep the Tigers off the board through four complete.

A Princeton runner reached with one out in the fifth on an error, and a fielder's choice notched the second out. Callie Jo Varner and Shaina Ervin had a classic batter-pitcher battle, and Varner walked on the 15th pitch from Ervin in the at-bat, including ten foul balls, to put two runners on for the first time in the game. Samantha O'Hara came to the plate and grounded out on the first pitch to end the inning.

Heather Gelbard reached on an infield single with one out in the sixth, and Ashleigh Davis pinch ran. Smith drilled the 1-1 pitch into the gap in deep centerfield, but Princeton's Stephanie Steel made a tremendous running catch and subsequent throw back to the infield to retire Smith and hold Davis at first. Chamberlin came to the plate and drew a two-out walk, just the eighth walk allowed by Snyder in 160 innings pitched this season. Miranda Ervin laced a Snyder pitch to third, but Jackie Araneo gloved it to save a run and end the inning.

Tigers' leadoff batter Stephanie Steel reached second on a two-base error by Tess Corona at second base to start the sixth inning. Cristina Cobb-Adams reached on a bunt single to put runners on the corners, and Kathryn Welch attempted to squeeze in the tying run. Shaina Ervin fielded the bunt cleanly and flipped to her sister Miranda behind the plate to nail the runner for the first out of the inning. Amanda Erickson hit a sinking liner into left field, and Megan Dalthorp made a sliding catch for the second out. Dalthorp alertly gathered herself and threw to second to double off the runner to end the inning.

Dalthorp singled to third with one out in the seventh, and pinch hitters Jennifer Patterson and Mackenzie Mangum struckout to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the seventh Princeton's Beth Dalmut reached on an error and Snyder singled into shallow centerfield to put two on. A sacrifice bunt advanced both runners and Varner walked to load the bases, but O'Hara grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to end the game.

Snyder (17-7) went the distance for the Tigers, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out 12 batters.