NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State softball team logged two wins Thursday on the first day of the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission's Lady Demon Classic.
The Lady Demons (4-3) topped Memphis 4-2 before a 4-1 win against Stephen F. Austin during a tournament that started one day early because of expected rain.
The pair of wins ties NSU head coach
Donald Pickett for the all-time program record at 245.
NSU is scheduled to play a pair of games Friday – 3 p.m. tilt against Jackson State and a 5:30 p.m. rematch against SFA.
Day 2 of the tournament begins with SFA taking on Memphis at 10 a.m. before the Tigers battle Jackson State at 12:30 p.m.
NSU 4, Memphis 2
Northwestern State broke a tie in the sixth inning by scoring two runs to secure a win Thursday against Memphis in the opening game of the Natchitoches Historic District Development Lady Demon Classic.
Pinch-runner Elise Vincent put NSU ahead when she scored on a Memphis fielding error to go ahead 3-2.
NSU padded its edge on a double steal as Julie Rawls took off from the third as pinch runner Madelyn Matt stole second base. Rawls slid behind the tag of Memphis catcher Regan Hadley for the 4-2 lead.
Emma Hawthorne and Julie Rawls singled earlier in the inning to supply base runners, setting the stage for the inning's two unearned runs.
Freshman Cayla Jones (2-for-2, walk) produced two runs the traditional way, accounting for both the Lady Demons' RBIs.
After Memphis scored two runs in the second inning, Jones kept NSU close with RBI singles in the third and fifth innings.
Sidney Salmans (2-for-3) and Hayley Barbazon scored on Jones' singles.
Pitcher
Mikayla Brown (2-1) earned the win in relief with 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Brown allowed one hit and a walk with a strikeout.
Brown took over for freshman E.C. Delafield (1-for-3 at the plate), who allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Memphis took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, started by a double steal which scored Regan Hadley. The Tigers added the second run with a Brooke Lee RBI-single, which scored an unearned run for Erin Parker, who reached on an error.
NSU 4, SFA 1
Sophomore reliever Mariah Denson may have made things interesting by loading the bases with two walks and a hit-by-pitch, but Denson closed the door for her first save as a Lady Demon.
Denson threw a pair of scoreless innings with four strikeouts in her best outing this season.
She backed up a tremendous effort from starter
Micaela Bouvier (2-1), who scattered four hits over five innings with one run allowed.
Bouvier struck out nine batters, just missing her career high of 10 back in 2015.
On offense, freshman Cayla Jones continued her tear, hitting her second home run of the season to break away from the Ladyjacks (3-3).
Jones (2-for-4) hit her two-run homer in the fifth inning to answer SFA's lone run of the game. Sophomore Hayley Barbazon singled ahead of Jones and scored a run.
Sophomore Sidney Harris (2-for-2, walk) also continued her hot streak at the plate.
The Lady Demons compiled eight hits total, including doubles by Emma Hawthorne and Madelyn Matt. Matt, a Natchitoches native, recording her first career double.
Matt scored NSU's final run on a Barbazon RBI.
Junior Kaylee Isenburg's ground-out RBI started the scoring in the fourth inning, scoring Harris.
SFA scored its lone run after a Taylor Fraccastoro triple led to her coming home on a wild pitch.
