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NC State senior ace Emily Weiman went out in style Saturday, notching her third career no-hitter in her final regular season start, a 10-0 mercy killing of Appalachian State. Weiman fanned the side to end the game in the fifth due to the run rule.
Weiman will have the ACC tournament, and likely the NCAA tournament, to try to add to her program record win total of 104. She finished the regular season 27-14 with a 2.24 ERA and already has a career high 284 strikeouts. With three more wins, she will reach 30 in a season for the third straight year.
Weiman is also a good bet to add some postseason hardware to a list of honors that already includes:
2014 ALL-ACC ACADEMIC TEAM
2014 FIRST TEAM ALL-ACC
2014 ACC HONOR ROLL
2013 ACC PITCHER OF THE YEAR
2013 FIRST TEAM ALL-ACC
2013 ACC CHAMPIONSHIP MVP
2013 ACC CHAMPIONSHIP ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
2013 NFCA ALL-SOUTHEAST REGION SECOND TEAM
2013 ACC PITCHER OF THE WEEK (3/5, 3/26, 4/16, 4/23, 4/30)
2013 ALL-ACC ACADEMIC TEAM
2013 ACC HONOR ROLL
2012 ALL-ACC ACADEMIC TEAM
2012 ACC HONOR ROLL
Weiman's senior teammate Renada Davis, the league's career leader in home runs (62), will also be playing in her last ACC tournament. The Pack shortstop leads the team in batting average (.380), on-base percentage (.490), and slugging percentage (.687) and will likely finish the season as the team leader in each category for the second straight year. Sophomores Molly Hutchison and Tyler Ross currently share the team lead in home runs with 13, one ahead of Davis.
NC State enters the ACC tournament on quite a roll; the Pack ladies have won eight in a row, six by shutout, en route to outscoring their opponents 75-5 down the stretch. The fifth seed for the tournament, State takes on fourth seed Louisville at 1:30 Thursday in Blacksburg. Though State is fifth in the unbalanced ACC standings, it finished the regular season with the third highest RPI of ACC schools (31st). Louisville is sixth among ACC teams in RPI at 41st and probably needs to advance beyond the opening round to feel 100% confident about its NCAA chances.
The ACC tournament will be broadcast on your regional sports network and on Watch ESPN, with the finals on the Mothership. The Pack-Ville winner will likely get tournament #1 seed Florida State (ranked ninth nationally) and reigning USA softball player of the year Lacey Waldrop in the semifinals.