RALEIGH, N.C. – For the first time in the program’s 59-year history, No. 20/25 Sun Devil Softball (23-9) will make a trip to Raleigh, N.C. to play the NC State Wolfpack (19-13) in a nonconference matchup as the two softball programs are slated for a 3 p.m. MST / 6 p.m. EDT first pitch on Wednesday, March 25 at Dail Softball Stadium on the ACC Network.
Game schedule
Wednesday, March 24 – at NC State, 3 p.m. MST / 6 p.m. EDT (ACC Network)
Television
Mike Couzens and Natasha Watley will serve as the play-by-play and color analyst, respectively, for Wednesday’s ACC Network broadcast.
The opposition
- Wednesday’s matchup between Arizona State and NC State will mark the first time the two softball programs have met since Feb. 7, 2014, when the Sun Devils beat the Wolfpack, 9-1, in six innings as part of the Kajikawa Classic hosted by ASU in Tempe.
- Unlike the 2007 meeting, Arizona State prevented an extra-inning affair as Dallas Escobedo tossed five innings of one-run softball as the Sun Devil offense strung together nine runs on 13 hits. ASU scored multiple runs in each of the second, third and fourth innings before ending the game via an eight-run mercy rule by scoring in the bottom of the fifth. Alix Johnson’s three-hit performance led the way as eight different Sun Devils were credited with at least one hit throughout the contest.
- Arizona State and NC State first met on March 18, 2007, when the Wolfpack outlasted the then-No. 2 Sun Devils, 6-4, in eight innings to conclude the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif.
- NC State took a two-run lead in the top of the first, before ASU responded with a four-run bottom of the third courtesy of a pair of two-run home runs from Bianca Cruz and Caylyn Carlson. However, the Wolfpack answered right back with a two-run top of the fourth. The 4-4 stalemate lasted the next three frames before a two-run double off the bat of Jen Chamberlin pushed NC State ahead, 6-4, in the top of the eighth.
- Despite being ACC opponents now, current Sun Devil Softball Head Coach Megan Bartlett, then Megan Ciolli, did not play the Wolfpack during her four-year collegiate playing career (2002-05) at Notre Dame, as the Irish’s softball program did not join the ACC until July 1, 2013.
Leading off
- Wednesday’s game will mark the second consecutive season Arizona State has played a softball game in the eastern time zone after the Sun Devils played five games – a two-game doubleheader at Stetson on March 12, followed by a three-game conference series at UCF two days later – throughout the state of Florida.
- When including Friday’s nonconference game at North Carolina, the 2026 season will mark the first time since 2007 that Arizona State has played both NC State (March 18 – L, 4-6 [8]) and UNC (Feb. 16 – W, 3-1) during the same season.
- With her next win, third-year Sun Devil Meika Lauppe will earn her 20th career collegiate pitching victory, joining Kenzie Brown (37) and Aissa Silva (35) as the only active Arizona State pitchers with 20-or-more career collegiate wins.
- Of the forthcoming 20-win trio, only Brown (34) and Lauppe (19) will have won 20-or-more games wearing the ASU Maroon and Gold.
- Twenty-seven of Silva’s wins came during a three-season (2023-25) career at Arizona.
- Three of Brown’s wins occurred during her first season (2022) at Tulsa.
- Despite the 2,161-mile distance between Tempe, Ariz., and Raleigh, N.C., the Sun Devils have one member of their 23-person roster from the state of North Carolina: Mary Peyton Hodge, who is a 5-foot-11 freshman left-handed pitcher who grew up 101 miles from Raleigh in Winston-Salem, N.C.
- Of the forthcoming 20-win trio, only Brown (34) and Lauppe (19) will have won 20-or-more games wearing the ASU Maroon and Gold.
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