Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas – A couple of miscues in the field by the Northwestern State softball team led to a walk-off grand slam by Texas-Arlington's Hillary Steed to take the contest 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday at Allan Saxe Field.

The frame started when UTA's Kelsey Kaiser hit a ground ball to the pitcher that was dropped by the first baseman. With one out, Stephanie Gonzalez reached on an error by the third baseman, putting runners on second and third. After a walk and a fielder's choice groundout at home plate, Steed hit the big two-out bomb to end the game.

The Lady Demons (16-24, 4-9 SLC) outhit the Mavs (13-18, 3-6 SLC) 6-5, but made four errors on defense.

Teri Lyles (7-9) pitched all nine innings for the Mavs to earn the win, while Brooke Boening (4-5) took the loss even though she didn't give up an earned run. Kylie Roos started for NSU and allowed just one earned run in four innings, and Sara Aasness tossed two shutout innings of relief.

The Lady Demons trailed 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning when Roos led it off with her second homer of the year to tie the game.

NSU scored the first run of the game in the fourth frame on a RBI single by Cali Burke. The hit scored Shenequia Abby who had come in to pitch-run for Roos after she walked earlier in the inning.

Tara McKenney tallied her 15th multi-hit game of the year by finishing two-for-four with a pair of singles. Samantha Roberts extended her hitting streak to nine games with an infield single in the fourth inning.

NSU will look to respond at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the final game of the series.