SAN ANTONIO, Texas – In for the injured Julie Rawls, sophomore Kaitlyn St. Clair provided the spark Northwestern State needed with a home run that led the Lady Demons to a split Friday at Incarnate Word.
St. Clair smacked a three-run home run in the first inning of the second game, her first career round-tripper, as NSU won the second game 10-0. UIW used a home run of its own in the first game in a 4-2 Lady Demons loss.
"I wanted to get out there and do it for the team, and also for (Rawls)," said St. Clair, who could potentially start the rubber match Saturday at noon. "She's been a big bat in our lineup, and with Cayla Jones not being here this weekend, we needed someone to come up and get the runs in.
"I've been trusting myself in this process more and putting in the extra work. It's nice to see it pay off."
St. Clair plated
Sidney Salmans and Madelyn Matt, who both singled to lead off the second game UIW pitcher Sarah Leal (7-9).
The Cypress, Texas, native entered Game 1 in the fourth inning when Rawls crashed into the wall in foul territory as she reached to catch a ball. Rawls left the stadium for X-Rays but returned to the dugout during the second game.
St. Clair finished 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs, tying a career high against Jackson State.
While St. Clair provided the boost at the plate, senior
Micaela Bouvier had one of her best outings of the season.
Bouvier (11-5) carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, ending with a shutout on one hit with seven strikeouts. Bouvier walked two and hit two more batters, but she fended off UIW's rally attempts.
UIW's Nina Flores hit a soft blooper in the infield, which spun away from NSU second baseman Baleigh Glover for the Cardinals only hit with no outs.
"I knew about the fifth inning because I looked up at the scoreboard to see how many runs we've scored and realized there was a zero in the hit column," Bouvier said. "I'm not really superstitious at all, but the whole saying that you can't say it or can't think about it … but regardless whether there's zero hits or 10 hits, you've just got to keep going out there and giving the team the best possibility every inning."
But Bouvier closed the door on the next three batters, including striking out the final two to secure her fourth shutout of the season and strand two runners. Bouvier retired 15 straight batters from the second through the sixth innings.
"I've been focusing on doing the proper mechanics to make sure that I'm giving my shoulder the best shot at making it through the whole game," said Bouvier, who missed most of last season with shoulder injuries. "I was focusing on staying on my line and getting my arm through the hip."
Bouvier threw a no-hitter as a redshirt freshman in 2015 against Lamar.
Leading 3-0, NSU stretched it to 4-0 on a Toni Hebert sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.
Bouvier toed the line until the Lady Demons piled six runs in the seventh inning, all unearned.
Glover started the inning with a single, then UIW made errors on two bunts that scored a run before Madelyn Matt (2-for-4) bunted in a second run for a 6-0 edge.
A double steal scored
Sidney Salmans, St. Clair singled in a run and Adele Vincent tripled in two more runs to close the inning.
UIW 4, NSU 2
The Lady Demons couldn't string enough hits together in Game 1 to make up for the Cardinals burst of offense in the loss.
With NSU leading 2-1, UIW scored three in the fifth inning to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
After one of NSU's two errors, Angel Villanueva tripled in two runs to grab a 3-2 edge. A Monica Flores sacrifice scored the UIW's final run.
Junior pitcher
Mikayla Brown (9-3) took her first loss in conference play. Brown allowed just five hits, but three walks, including two in the fifth inning, loomed large in UIW's three-run inning.
Brown struck out three batters, including to end the fourth inning to strand two runners in scoring position.
The Cardinals took an early 1-0 lead on a Hope Sobolewski RBI single in the first inning.
NSU answered in the third inning with a Sidney Harris single that scored Baleigh Glover and
Sidney Salmans. Harris and Salmans each recorded two hits.
UIW freshman pitcher Breanna Hernandez didn't allow an earned run after an error forced both of NSU's runs to be unearned.
Hernandez allowed seven hits and struck out two with no walks.
