MONROE – The first four innings couldn't have gone much better for Northwestern State softball Sunday in the Mardi Gras Classic finale against host ULM.

The Lady Demons built a four-run lead, but ULM answered with eight runs in their final two at-bats as NSU fell 8-5.

NSU (3-2) scored its first four runs all in the second inning, chasing two ULM pitchers before winner Paige Porter (1-0) settled in to hold NSU to just a seventh-inning run in her six innings.

With the bases loaded, freshman Hayley Barbazon supplied her first three career RBIs with a bases-clearing triple for a 3-0 lead. Senior Micayla Sorosiak (walked), sophomore Kaylee Isenburg (singled) and sophomore Hailee Rhodes (walked) all scored.

Junior Sidney Salmans, who batted .467 (7-of-15) on the weekend, added an RBI single to score Barbazon for a 4-0 lead.

But the Lady Demons stranded nine runners on an afternoon when they couldn't take full advantage of their nine hits.

ULM (4-1) capitalized on its eight hits, scoring three fifth-inning runs and adding five in the sixth inning.

NSU sophomore Mikayla Brown (1-2) dominated the game's first four innings, retiring nine consecutive batters between the first and third innings.

But Brown, who is recovering from a torn ACL that forced her to miss almost all of the 2016 season, begin to tire in the later innings after pitching two complete games this weekend.

ULM's Sydney McKay singled in a run before a Cheyanne Lyon sacrifice fly and an error sliced NSU's lead to 4-3 in the fifth inning.

In the sixth inning, ULM loaded the bases with a Melanie Coyne single and two walks, bringing in NSU reliever Katelyn Boles with one out.

Boles struck out her first batter, but McKay (three RBIs) hit a two-run single before Lyon (four RBIs) smacked a three-run home run for an 8-4 edge.

"We got better today and throughout this weekend, but it's tough lose a game that way," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "We knew Brown couldn't go the entire game, and she dominated until the fifth inning.

"But we didn't make plays behind her. We had miscues at shortstop and third base that could have ended the inning earlier Offensively, we went a total of five innings without putting a run on the board. We didn't make adjustments (to Porter), and we're too good not to score more runs."

After four shutout innings, Brown finished the day with six runs allowed (five earned) on five hits and three walks.

Sorosiak (3-for-3 with a run and RBI) delivered a two-out RBI double to cut ULM's lead to 8-5, but Porter closed the door in the next at-bat for the win.
Salmans (2-for-4, RBI) and Isenburg (2-for-3) contributed multiple hits in the loss.

NSU heads to Florida's Aquafina Invitational for five tournament games starting Friday. Florida is the preseason No. 4 team in the nation.