NATCHITOCHES – A seventh-inning rally in game one and some early run support game two helped propel Northwestern State to a pair of wins on Friday evening against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The Lady Demons (23-19, 9-8) won a classic pitcher's duel to start the thanks to a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh that ended with an Ashlyn Walker walk-off sacrifice fly for a 2-1 win. NSU carried the momentum into the start of the second game, scoring six runs in the first three innings, on the way to a 6-3 victory, doubleheader sweep and series win.
 
NSU 2, AMCC 1
 
For the second straight start Maggie Darr was special for the Lady Demons.
 
After throwing nine innings a week ago at UIW, she twirled another gem on Friday allowing just one run on two hits in the game as she outdueled Corpus' two-time conference pitcher of the week Primrose Aholelei.
 
"Maggie was awesome today," her catcher Ashlyn Walker said. "She was hitting her spots and always does a good job of coming in and shutting teams down. That was huge today when we weren't hitting as much. She was clutch today and it was awesome."
 
The lone blemish on her otherwise astounding performance came on a solo home run to right center in the top of the fourth, the first hit she allowed in the game and the only one until a meaningless single to center in the top of the seventh.
 
The long ball was enough to carry the Islanders through the majority of the game as the Demons continued to work counts and see pitches from the Aholelei. That work paid off at the most opportune time for NSU.
 
NSU got the tying run on base and into scoring position right away as Makenzie Chaffin lined a ball to right on the first pitch of the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. After falling behind 1-2 in the count, Laney Roos fouled off enough pitches to get one good enough to line back up the middle that brought in Chaffin from second to tie the game.
 
Roos moving to second on the throw home turned out to be the first of two small but crucial moves that helped NSU come away with the win. A well-placed bunt from Tristin Court put her at third base, 60 feet from the Demons' first walk-off win of the season.
 
The second small but crucial move came when freshman Camryn Ford worked a walk, in her 10^th plate appearance of the season, to put runners at the corners with one out and applying just that much more pressure to the Islanders.
 
"That was definitely a pressure situation and she handled it really well," Walker said. "We talked before the at bat and she went in there with a good mindset and took a deep breath before and went in with the most confidence that she could."
 
Two pitches later Walker skied a ball to deep center, plenty deep enough for Roos to tag and score from third to complete the late-game rally.
 
"She was throwing mostly strikes and throwing me mostly outside, so I was just looking for something to attack," Walker said. "I just wanted to get it out of the infield and do anything that could score that run. I knew anything deep would help us do that."
 
NSU 6, AMCC 3
 
The momentum of the walk-off win carried over into the second game of the night for the much more relaxed Demon offense.
 
Bailie Ragsdale opened the bottom of the first with one of her two walks in the game and after going station-to-station to reach third slid in safely at home on a wild pitch to give the Demons the early 1-0 lead.
 
Her second walk of the game, coming with two outs in the bottom of the second, put runners at first and second for a quick two-out Demon rally. Taylor Williams, one of the hottest hitters in the NSU lineup, spanked the first pitch she saw to the gap in left center scoring two runs on her fourth double in the past 10 days for her 8^th and 9^th RBIs during that same stretch.
 
Keely Dubois followed with a base hit to center bringing Williams around to score and giving the Demons a 4-0 lead after two innings.
 
Two more walks started the third inning, and after Court moved them both into scoring position, Ford who made her first career start in game two, sent a ball right back up the middle for two more runs and making it a 6-0 NSU lead.
 
After working her way through four shutout innings where she allowed just two hits, Kenzie Seely ran into her first bit of trouble in the fifth with runners at second and third with one out. Seely got the second out on a ground ball to second, but a seeing-eye single through the left side a batter later put the first two runs of the game on the board for the Islanders.
 
Corpus made one more big push at a comeback in the sixth when the first three batters of the inning reached on a single and error and a walk sending the Demons to the bullpen for the first time on the day.
 
Ryleigh Denton got a three-pitch strikeout on the first batter she faced and two ground balls to limit the bases loaded one out situation to just one run for the Islanders.
 
"Our pitchers did a great job in the second game too and kept them down," Walker said. "It was good that we started off strong, wish we could have kept going a little more there, but we're going to keep working and keep that momentum going into tomorrow."
 
She closed out her first save for the Demons in the seventh getting the final three batters in order on two more ground outs and a pop up to third.
 
NSU picked up its 10^th home win of the season, the fifth straight year with 10 or more home wins, the longest such streak under head coach Donald Pickett. It will go for its first conference series sweep of the season on Saturday at 1 p.m.