CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – For the fourth and fifth straight times on Friday, Northwestern State found itself in a one-run Southland Conference game. A record-setting performance in circle gave NSU a 2-1 win to start the day but self-inflicted wounds cost it a 4-3 loss in the second against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

For the third time in her previous five starts Sage Hoover struck out the side in order in the first inning. She added two more in the second but not before a leadoff walk, passed ball and throwing error allowed the Islanders (13-22, 1-4) to take a 1-0 lead after the first two innings of play.

Corpus took advantage of the free pass to take the lead in the second and nearly added to it after drawing three more walks in the third, loading the bases with just one out. Hoover got out of the jam with a strikeout and fly ball to center keeping the score at 1-0 and triggering the dominance that followed.

The Lady Demons (24-14, 6-2) used three straight hits in the fourth to even the game at one on a Keely DuBois RBI single up the middle. They left two more on the bases at the end of the inning but the game was squarely in the hands of Hoover from that point forward.

The freshman went 6 2/3 innings without allowing a hit, and after four walks in the first three innings and six through five did not walk a batter in the final seven innings of her 222-pitch, 18-strikeout, no earned runs allowed 12-inning complete game.

The 18 strikeouts sets a new NSU record for a single game, previously held by Brooke Boening and Kelee Grimes who each had 16 in a game, and the 12 innings was the most by a single pitcher since Katelyn Boles threw 13 in 2017.

After allowing the two-out hit in the seventh, putting the winning run on base, Hoover navigated four different instances where the Islanders put the winning run on without seeing the game end in walk-off fashion.

She ended the seventh with her 12^th strikeout of the game, got a double play on a line drive to Maggie Black at third in the eighth and matched the school record with her 16^th strikeout to finish the 10^th.

In perhaps her most impressive high-wire act of the game after the Islanders started the 11^th with two straight hits and a hit batter loaded the bases with just one out, Hoover struck the next two batters out to giver her 18 for the game sending things to the 12^th inning.

The NSU offense that had seen multiple opportunities go by the wayside throughout the game, leaving eight runners on base to that point, got the run it needed after staring defeat in the face the half inning prior.

Tristin Court singled to right to start the inning and found herself at third thanks to a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt by Black. Alexis Perry skied one deep enough to center to bring Court in for the go-ahead run.

The bottom of the inning was not without its drama as the Islanders started with a double and had the tying run at third with one out. Hoover once again bore down and got a shallow fly to right for the second out and ended the game with a ground ball to short.

The Lady Demons missed an opportunity to take the early lead in the second game after loading the bases with one out in the second but coming up empty handed. The next chance to score in the third did produce a run on a Makenzie Chaffin RBI single, but two more were left on base at the end of the frame.

After cruising through the first three innings, starter Kenzie Seely ran into her first real trouble in the fourth when just one hit and some miscues with the ball lead to three Islander runs.

A passes ball on a strikeout prevented the second out from being recorded and a throwing error on the next play tied the game at one on what could have been the final out of the inning. The Islanders scored two more without the ball ever leaving the infield on a squeeze bunt and a wild pitch to give them a 3-1 advantage.

The Islanders returned the favor a couple of innings later with a key misplay of their own leading to a late NSU rally.

With pinch runner Vivica Hernandez at second, Lexie Roos slapped a single to left that squirted past the left fielder allowing Hernandez to score and Roos to move into scoring position. After a Taylor Williams single loaded the bases, Laney Roos tied the game on a sacrifice fly to left bringing in Black.

Unfortunately the two-out hit NSU needed to take the lead did not come, leaving two more runners stranded in scoring position and the Lady Demons open to a dramatic finish from the home team.

The hit that did not come in extra innings of the first game against Hoover, came for the Islanders in the second game in the bottom of the seventh. A walk put the winning run aboard and after a strikeout, a one-out double to the wall in left center was enough to score the run from first to win the game.

The Lady Demons have now play in 12 games decided by just one run this year and are 7-5 in those games.

The rubber game of the series in Corpus Christi is set for a noon start on Saturday.