HOUSTON – Eight different innings began with a runner reaching base for Houston in Saturday's doubleheader. The Cougars were able to turn that success into a pair of wins against Northwestern State with 7-2 and 5-3 decisions.
"They were coming at us every inning and putting the pressure on us in every inning," head coach
Donald Pickett said. "That got them some big two-out hits that were able to open the game up. We just seemed like we couldn't get anything together scoring just one run here and there. We need to have a couple of big innings tomorrow to be able to put enough runs on the board to win."
On top of the lead-off batter reaching with regularity for the Cougars (11-12), their two-out hitting frustrated the Lady Demon (12-10) pitching staff throughout the day.
Game one starter
Sage Hoover was able to work around a lead-off single in the first, but the relentless Cougar attack got on the board in the next inning.
A walk led to the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly after the batter advanced to third on a base hit to left. The Cougars added to their lead in the fourth after a double started the inning and scored on a squeeze bunt three batters later to make it a 2-0 game.
The first costly two-out hit came from the next batter, a single to center, that made it a 3-0 game through four.
NSU got its own piece of two-out magic in the top of the inning on a crushing home run from
Maggie Black to straight away center field, her second of the season, to get the Lady Demons on the board.
Houston's next big blow however came in the bottom of the inning on a three-run home run to left to answer Black's shot.
Laney Roos drilled a ball over the right-center wall with two-out in top of the sixth, the first of three straight hits for the Lady Demons, but a strike out ended the inning, leaving two runners on and the score at 6-2.
The Cougars got their final two-out run of the game in the bottom of the inning after an error at short allowed the run to score from second base.
Houston scored its first run of the second game after a lead-off double in the bottom of the first came in on a sacrifice fly two batters later. They stretched the lead to 3-0 two innings later with consecutive extra-base hits, a double and a home run, the only two runs of the game that weren't either with two outs or a result of a lead-off baserunner.
The Lady Demons had moments throughout the day where they applied the same kind of pressure on the offensive side. In addition to the two home runs from the first game,
Makenzie Chaffin traded places with
Taylor Williams, who singled and stole second, by lacing a double to right to get NSU on the board in the second game.
She was left standing there at the end of the inning, as were two more runners in the top of the next inning after a hit batter and base hit put runners on with just one out. Back-to-back strikeouts ended the inning and the final major threat for NSU in the game.
Down 4-1 in the sixth, Keely DuBois cleared the centerfield wall for a two-run home run with two outs, but even after a
Lexie Roos single followed DuBois' blast, a strikeout ended the inning.
NSU finishes its three-game series with Houston on Sunday at 12 p.m. and can be seen with a subscription on ESPN+.
