NATCHITOCHES — Northwestern State softball head coach Donald Pickett needed his team to play its best game Saturday afternoon in the series finale against Houston Baptist. The Lady Demons did just that.
NSU downed the Huskies 7-2 at the Lady Demon Diamond. That stretches Northwestern State's win streak to nine games, building on what is the team's best start in Southland Conference play since 2015.
"This was defiantly the best game of the series," senior outfielder Kaitlyn St. Clair said. "We came out strong and scored three runs in the first, and after that we kept it going for the next few innings. We wanted to attack early."
The victory pushes the Lady Demons to 15-7 overall and 9-0 in conference play. The loss drops the Huskies to 9-9 overall and 2-7 in league action.
St. Clair alluded to the mentality of attacking early, and that's precisely what NSU did. After sophomore pitcher Bronte Rhoden worked around a leadoff hit in the top of the first inning, the Lady Demons gave their starter a few runs with which to work.
Senior outfielder Elise Vincent and freshman infielder Taylor Williams both reached on back-to-back bunt singles in the bottom half of the first. Junior E.C. Delafield knocked home Vincent on an RBI single, while freshman infielder Kat Marshall scored Williams on a sacrifice fly. St. Clair capped the inning, executing a suicide squeeze that brought Delafield in to score.
"I loved how we came out in the first inning," Pickett said. "We looked sharp. We got out of that first inning, and came back in and got a couple runners on, moved some runners over — played a little short game — and E.C. got that big hit up the middle. We looked good being able to execute, and that really relaxed us."
Rhoden relaxed and settled in, pitching 5.2 innings of solid softball. She finished allowing just one earned run on five hits with two strikeouts. Delafield twirled the final 1.1 innings and only surrounded one hit with a pair of strikeouts.
Delafield also accounted for NSU's fourth run. Her single scored Vincent, who reached on a walk, which made it a 4-1 game.
The Lady Demons put up another three-spot in the bottom of the third inning. St. Clair doubled to leadoff the frame, and she came home on a two-out RBI single from senior infielder Emma Hawthorne.
The two-out magic continued, thereafter, as senior outfielder Hayley Barbazon singled up the middle to score Hawthorne. Williams put a bow on the inning with a RBI single to left that scored Barbazon.
Northwestern State dips outside of conference play for a midweek game in Ruston. The Lady Demons battle Louisiana Tech in a single game Tuesday beginning at 6 p.m.
