Cards Walk Off NC State in First Round of ACC Championship

Wednesday, May 6

Charlottesville, VA

1:30 PM

University of Louisville

44-11

NC State University

27-26

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
NC State	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	5	11	2
Louisville	1	0	0	0	3	0	2	6	9	0

Madison Pickens and team slap bracket after Walk Off win

Photo by: Courtesy ACC

Cards Walk Off NC State in First Round of ACC Championship

May 06, 2026 | Softball

Box Score

By: Erin Hughes

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5-seeded University of Louisville softball team used its 20th comeback win of the season to walk off No. 12 seed NC State by a score of 6-5 in the first round of the Allstate ACC Softball Championship.

Louisville (44-11) scored five unanswered runs through the last three innings to complete the win. Brooke Gray (14-2) took the win after throwing 3.0 innings in relief, allowing six hits, three runs, one walk and two strikeouts. Alyssa Zabala started the day off with 4.0 innings of work, during which she struck out one and gave up two runs on five hits.

Madison Pickens led the Cardinal offense going 2-for-4 with three RBIs, driving in the game-winning run with a double. Camryn Lookadoo grabbed the other two UofL RBIs and finished the day 2-for-2 with two runs scored and one walk drawn. Chelsea Mack scored the first run of the day to become the single-season record holder for most runs scored with 65. Bri Despines ended the game with one double and two runs in two at-bats.

Zabala retired three of the four batters she faced in the opening frame, and Mack gave UofL its first score when she crossed home on an error in the bottom of the first. Zabala went three up, three down in the second before the Wolfpack scored its first run on a wild pitch in the top of the third.

Both teams had their bats held quiet in the fourth, but NCSU grabbed a big momentum swing with a leadoff home run to start the fifth inning. NC State plated three more runs in the inning to lead 5-1, but UofL had an answer in the home frame.

Easton Lotus singled and Despines took a walk to get on base early for Louisville, and Lookadoo used a single to send Lotus home. Pickens followed up with a single of her own that scored both runners to cut the Wolfpack lead down to one.

With neither team scoring in the sixth, Gray held it down with a scoreless top of the seventh to give the Cards a chance. Despines doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch with just one out to have a runner in scoring position for Lookadoo to single in and tie the game. Pickens launched the first pitch she saw into left field to double Lookadoo home from first and walk off the game.

Louisville will face off with No. 4 seed Stanford in the second round on Thursday, May 7. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the Cards and the Cardinal, as UofL took the series 2-1 over then-No. 13 Stanford in Louisville from Feb. 27 to March 1.