SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Northwestern State softball head coach Donald Pickett had a feeling, at some point in the third inning, that Saturday could be a special day for E.C. Delafield. He knew his junior pitcher had her best stuff in the circle, and after a few 1-2-3 innings, Pickett thought she could befuddle Incarnate Word for the entirety of the game.
He was right. Delafield was special. Her memorable weekend, which included a grand slam on Friday, was capped with a no-hitter Saturday in a 5-0 victory over the Cardinals at H-E-B Field.
"She pretty much dominated the game for seven innings," Pickett said. "She did a really good job commanding the zone. She mixed speeds. We were able to work both sides the plate. She had her best stuff, and we made a couple nice plays behind her."
The win, the Lady Demons' sixth in a row, moved them to 12-7 overall and 6-0 in Southland Conference play. The loss drops UIW to 2-14 overall and 0-6 in league action.
Delafield ended up tossing 91 pitches and boasted a dozen strikeouts to improve to 4-1 on the season. The only thing keeping her pitching gem from being a perfect game was one error.
It marks the first no-hitter for NSU since Micaela Bouvier pitched on against Lamar during the 2015 season. Pickett was the coach then too, and he knows how tough it is to do what Delafield accomplished Saturday.
"It's very difficult, and it's really difficult to throw a no-hitter in conference play," Pickett said. "Everybody is familiar with each other, and E.C. has been in this league for a few years now. It's definitely one of those things that doesn't happen all that often."
Delafield took to the circle Saturday with a lead already in hand. And that cushion was provided by herself.
Delafield logged an RBI double to left, which scored senior outfielder Elise Vincent who reached on an infield single. Sophomore catcher Alexis Perry capped the inning with a big two-out, two-run single up the middle that made it 3-0 before Delafield threw her first pitch.
"I think (that early run support) was huge coming out today because their pitcher got stronger as the game went," Pickett said. "She came out a little tentative, and we took full advantage of that and was able to put a crooked number on the board."
NSU reentered the scoring column in the fifth. Freshman infielder Kat Marshall doubled to left and scored on an error on a sacrifice bunt by senior outfielder Kaitlyn St. Clair. Freshman outfielder Laney Roos concluded the scoring with a two-out RBI single to right.
Northwestern State returns to Natchitoches for its Southland Conference home opener. The Lady Demons host Houston Baptist in a three-game set beginning Friday with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. at the Lady Demon Diamond.
