NATCHITOCHES – No. 1 seeded Northwestern State softball fell behind for the third straight game in the Southland Conference Tournament, but it did not matter as
Micayla Sorosiak belted a three-run home run in the third inning, to help NSU stave off elimination in a 9-2 victory against No. 4 Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday night.
With the win, NSU (35-17) moves on to play Lamar at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, looking for redemption against the squad that stunned the Lady Demons, 6-1 on Wednesday night. The game will be broadcast on 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches and can be heard worldwide on NSUDemons.com.
The victory highlighted a pair of wins for NSU on the day, as the Lady Demons sent No. 6 seed A&M-Corpus Christi packing with a 3-1 victory during the day's first game before sending the Lady Lions (22-30) home in the day's finale.
Brittney Jones got NSU on the board in the first, placing a ball perfectly down the left field line for a double that scored
Kellye Kincannon. Two innings later, Jones singled to left center and
Natalie Landry was hit by a pitch to set up Sorosiak's slam over the Outfield Club.
"That lifted the pressure off our back I felt like," seventh-year head coach
Donald Pickett said of the Sorosiak homer. "Our kids started playing loose and playing like they can play. Hopefully all those kids get the confidence from tonight and we just continue to grow and get stronger as the tournament goes."
The Lady Demons used some help from the Lady Lions to tie things up in the second.
Hailee Rhodes swung in a ball in the dirt but reached first on the wild pitch. Two batters later, she advanced to second on the passed ball where she eventually scored from via a
Brittany Virgoe double.
Cassandra Barefield launched the 79
th home run of the season for NSU, already a program-record, to push the Lady Demons lead to 7-2 in the fourth. The long ball was her team-leading 17
th of the season.
"Coach Pickett the whole night was telling us to adjust to the pitcher and stay in the middle of the field," Barefield said. "That's what we did that inning. We just hit the ball how we knew how to hit it and it worked out for us."
Later in the frame, after Landry doubled and Sorosiak reached on a fielder's choice,
Kaytie Proctor drove in an RBI single. Two batters later, Salmans beat out an infield single to the shortstop to plate Sorosiak for the game's final run.
The Lady Lions jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, behind four hits off NSU starter
Mikayla Brown. The freshman righty would rebound, though, holding Southeastern Louisiana scoreless over her next two innings and tossed three innings, allowing six hits and two runs while walking one and fanning another.
Micaela Bouvier (14-5) entered in relief for Brown, picking up the win, while tossing four innings and giving up just two hits and a pair of walks. Lady Lions' starter Taylor Bishop (14-9) drew the loss, tossing 3 2-3, allowing eight hits and five runs while walking three and striking out four.
"She came in and she was ready to go," Pickett said of Bouvier. "She was throwing strikes and she was attacking the zone. She got us a lot of popups and easy outs. I think the kids are confident with (Brown and Bouvier) out there."
Kincannon pushed her career-best reached-base streak to 19 games with her first-inning single to center. The sophomore even flashed some leather, saving a pair of runs with a diving grab on a falling bloop from Teresa Lemos in shallow right in the third.
"That was an all-conference catch right there," Pickett said. "With two outs, they dropped in a couple early to get those runs on the board. I think the momentum changed then. You could see the confidence growing with our team. Kellye was huge with that play on defense."
