NATCHITOCHES – After taking the first two game of its Southland Conference opening weekend series by a combined score of 23-0 on Friday, Northwestern State softball needed extra innings to defeat UIW, 5-3 on Saturday at the Lady Demon Diamond.
Brittney Jones played hero, blasting a two-run home run over the center field wall, with one out in the bottom of the eighth to win it.
"Brittney had been hot all weekend long and when we got Kellye (Kincannon) on to start the inning we felt really good about having a chance to win the game," seventh-year head coach
Donald Pickett said. "Jones and that part of the order really did well this weekend. We'd struggled a couple innings earlier so we were glad to get that big hit."
The long ball was Jones' fourth of the weekend, bringing her season total to six. The sophomore went seven of ten in the three-game set, upping her season average to .383 – good enough for second on the team.
Mikayla Brown earned her second win of the season for the Lady Demons (12-12, 3-0 Southland), tossing four innings out of the pen, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out six. Starter
Micaela Bouvier kept Incarnate Word (3-17, 0-3 SLC) at bay, pitching four innings, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking one.
"I thought they did a great job," Pickett said of his pitchers. "Bouvier pitched yesterday and they were starting to make some adjustments but she gave us a couple times through the lineup. Brown was able to come through and show them something different for the last part of the game. Brown did a really good job making some big pitches there when the game was on the line."
Playing on Pickett's push to get out to an early start, Kincannon notched her team-leading seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to right center, giving NSU a 1-0 lead after the first.
"We talked about it over the past week and a half to be able to come out and be aggressive early," Pickett said. "Start fast and finish strong; the girls did a really good job of doing that this weekend."
The Cardinals tied things up in the third. Taylor Johnson led off the inning with a triple and came around to score two batters later on an Alex Zepeda sacrifice bunt.
NSU responded in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of runs to regain the lead.
After
Brittany Virgoe ripped a double to right center field, Kincannon notched her second hit of the day, a single to right. Then, a
Cassandra Barefield hit by pitch, loaded the bases. A
Brittney Jones single to left field to plate Virgoe followed by Landry's fielder's choice to score Kincannon, upped the lead to 3-1.
UIW used two singles and a fielder's choice in the fourth to cut the NSU lead to 3-2.
The extra inning affair was NSU's first since April 14, 2014 when UIW came into the Lady Demon Diamond and defeated the home squad, 8-7.
"It's always good to get a sweep in conference play," Pickett said. "Every conference win is so important. Conference games are just a different type of game. We knew Incarnate Word was going to come out fighting. We're proud of the girls. They're team played hard; we're happy to come out on top."
NSU concludes its brief four-game homestand by welcoming No. 7 UL Lafayette to The Diamond on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for six o'clock.
