CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Yet another dominating pitching performance and some late-inning heroics that fell just short gave Northwestern State another split on the second day of the Chattanooga Challenge.

Maggie Darr was near untouchable to start the day against Purdue Fort Wayne, striking out 14, the most in a single game in more than 10 years, giving the Lady Demons (6-3) a 3-0 win, their fourth shutout of the season. Laney Roos tied the game in the top of the seventh against SIU-Edwardsville with a grand slam, but a walk-off double in the bottom of the eighth lifted SIUE passed the Lady Demons 5-4, the first loss in a one-run game this year.

NSU 3, Purdue Fort Wayne 0

Making the second start of her career, Darr began by retiring the first seven batters she faced in a row and striking out four. That was just the beginning of what was just as impressive a performance as her near perfect game a week ago in Natchitoches.

"She did a great job and gave us a great performance," head coach Donald Pickett said of Darr's outing. "That was exactly what we needed to start the day."

The only two hits she allowed came in the third and fourth innings but led to no trouble for the redshirt freshman. She got the next two batters out in a row after surrendering the hits to escape any potential damage. Following a one-out triple in the fourth, she struck out the next two batters to end the inning and the next five overall.

The triple was the last base runner of the game for PFW as Darr got stronger as the game progressed, retiring the final 11 batters in a row including a stretch where eight of nine outs were all strikeouts. Her 14 strikeouts were a career high, topping the nine from her start against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and the most in a game since former assistant coach Brooke Boening sat down 16 in 2011.

"It's funny because I was struggling some in warm-ups and was worried about my curveball," Darr said. "But it worked itself out through the game. I definitely felt like I got stronger as the game went on.

"I started learning what each of the batters would chase and how far out they would swing for a pitch so that I didn't have them swinging at something they could hit. Working ahead in the count and having Tristin (Court) behind the plate working for me really helped today."

Darr got all the run support she needed in the bottom of the third on a Laney Roos double that brought Bailie Ragsdale in from second. NSU added to the lead in the next two innings on a Derika Castillo RBI single to center in the fourth and a Kat Marshall double in the fifth.

The Lady Demons got seven hits from seven different players in the game.

SIUE 5, NSU 4

In the second game of the day for the Lady Demons and early pitcher's duel gave way to some late-inning fireworks from both sides that sent the game to extra innings.

Neither team presented much threat through the first two and a half innings as NSU starter Sage Hoover and SIUE's Mia Hayes scattered a small handful of hits. The Cougars were able to break through against Hoover in the bottom of the third after an error in center allowed a run to score on a base hit up the middle.

The small blip of offense quickly died back down over the next three innings until heavy blow came in the sixth for SIUE. Again with two outs in the inning, a base hit to center kept the line moving for the Cougars who cashed in with a three-run home run that made it a 4-0 game.

A four-run lead in softball is nothing that one swing can't fix and the Lady Demons got that swing in the top of the seventh.

Three straight one-out singles from Castillo, Taylor Williams and Ragsdale loaded the bases. After an interference call between second and third gave SIU the second out, Laney Roos pulled a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right to tie the game with NSU down to their final out of the game.

Hoover worked around a walk in the bottom of the inning to send the game to extras, but NSU could not muster more than a two-out single in the top of the eighth. The game appeared to be poised for a ninth inning but two miscues in the field opened the door for SIUE's walk-off hit.

A passed ball on a strikeout, that would have been the second out of the inning, allowed the winning run to reach first. Then a dropped fly ball in left kept things alive for the eventual game-winning double to right center.

Roos drove in all four runs for NSU with one of her three total hits and reached base in all four of her plate appearances, her best game of the young season. Hoover suffered her first loss of the year despite another double-digit strikeout performance, her second of the season, finishing with 11.

The Lady Demons end their weekend in Chattanooga with a 10 a.m. game Sunday morning against Indiana State.