Box Score

MONROE – In a thrilling season opener, the Northwestern State softball team played a back-and-forth battle that just ultimately didn't finish its way, as Southern Illinois-Edwardsville edged out a 7-4 victory Friday night at the ULM Mardi Gras Classic in Monroe.

 

The Lady Demons (0-1) held an early 3-0 lead after a two-run homer by Cheyenne DeLaGarza in the second inning, but the Cougars (1-1) fought their way back into the game and won on a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh.

 

Kelee Grimes pitched 4.1 innings and struck out nine in a no-decision. She surrendered six hits and two earned runs in the 22 batters she faced. Amanda Lambrecht (1-0) pitched a complete game for SIUE and earned the win, while Kylie Roos (0-1) suffered the loss for NSU.

 

At the plate, Brittany Virgoe finished 1-for-2 in her first-ever game in a NSU uniform and scored a run.

 

The Anaheim, Calif., and Esperanza HS native got it started in the first Lady Demon at bat of the season, when she took one for the team and reached base on a hit-by-pitch. Virgoe then showed her speed and advanced all the way to third on a passed ball. Roos knocked her in on a groundball to the shortstop, giving NSU the early 1-0 lead.

 

The Lady Demons again got their leadoff hitter on base as Cassandra Barefield punched a single up the middle to start the second inning. After Candice Biggs came in to pitch run, DeLaGarza cracked a two-run bomb down the left field line to plate them both and increase the margin to 3-0.

 

The Cougars showed a big threat in the bottom of the second after two singles sandwiched around an error scored a run, but NSU was able to get out of it after DeLaGarza scooped up a wild pitch and gunned down a runner at second – 3-1 NSU.

 

SIUE struck again in the fifth inning when three singles and a passed ball tied the game, 3-3. With runners still on first and second with one out, Roos took over on the mound and recorded the next two outs to get the Lady Demons out of the jam and keep the score even.

 

NSU quickly responded in the top of the sixth when Samantha Roberts raced around the bases for a leadoff triple. Shenequia Abby came in to pinch run, and scored on a wild pitch to recapture the lead, 4-3.

 

Though, the Cougars answered in the bottom of the inning when a single and a double scored a run to tie the game, 4-4.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, the Cougars got a pair of baserunners on after a single and a walk. Then, with one out SIUE's Samantha Stanicek hit a walk-off three-run homer to end the game, 7-4.

 

The game started 2 hours and 19 minutes late after earlier, high scoring games in the tournament went to extra innings.

 

The Lady Demons will take the field again in the tournament on Saturday with an 11 a.m. game against ULM and another at 5 p.m. against IUPUI.