Box Score

NATCHITOCHES - Cassandra Barefield launched a grand slam to straight-away centerfield in the first inning to spark an 8-0 victory in six innings for the Northwestern State softball team as it completed the sweep over Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at the Lady Demon Diamond Complex.

For the second straight day, NSU (15-23, 4-8 SLC) held SFA (9-25, 2-8 SLC) to one hit and shutout the Ladyjacks bats. Brooke Boening pitched 5.2 shutout innings of relief and picked up the win for NSU after striking out nine batters.

“Brooke was really sharp today. We let her take the week off to get her rested up as she's still recovering from her injury in the fall, and she came out fresh and threw the way she normally does,” said head coach Donald Pickett.

Boening entered the game in the first inning and inherited a bases loaded jam with one out. She struck out the next two batters, and allowed just one base-runner the rest of the way. Kelee Grimes started the game and surrendered two walks and a hit-by-pitch in 0.1 innings.

Barefield's grand slam came with two outs to cap a five run first inning. Base-hits by Tara McKenney, Kylie Roos and Cali Burke, and a walk by Samantha Roberts set the table.

Burke reached base in all four at-bats, and finished three-for-three to mark her eighth multi-hit game of the year. She knocked a RBI single in the first inning to score NSU's first run of the game, singled to rightfield in the third and ripped a base-hit up the middle in the fourth.

“Cali's at-bat in the first inning really set the tone for us. She drove in a big run and kept the inning alive for Cassandra to come to the plate with the bases loaded. The team's confidence at the plate kept growing after that,” Pickett said.

McKenney and Roberts both extended their hitting streaks to seven games. McKenney finished the game three-for-four to register her 14th multi-hit and fifth three-hit game of the season.

The Lady Demons won the game in the sixth inning on a walk-off hit-by-pitch by Brittany Virgoe. NSU loaded the bases when Roberts singled to rightfield, Brianna Rodriguez singled to leftfield and Burke was pegged by a pitch with two outs.

The Lady Demons also garnered an outstanding defensive performance from Blair Beard, who made an incredible diving catch to rob Charlotte Singleton of an extra-base hit in the fifth inning.

“For the first time, we played back-to-back complete games this year at all three phases of the game. We got great defense, timely hitting and outstanding pitching all weekend. Hopefully we will continue to carry this momentum on and keep taking steps forward,” Pickett said.

Carlie Thomas (5-9) pitched 5.2 innings and took the loss for SFA after allowing 12 hits and seven earned runs. Cadie Weaver tallied the team's hit with a single to rightfield to leadoff the fifth inning.

The Lady Demons will be back in action on Tuesday with a home contest at 6 p.m. against Louisiana Tech.