CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Northwestern State is carrying some youthful energy and momentum into is second straight Southland Conference road series this weekend.
 
Following a two-out rally where freshmen Aly Delafield and Mia Liscano gave the Demons (13-18, 1-5) their first walk-off home win in the seventh inning since 2022, NSU shifts gears to a three-game set against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
Originally scheduled for the normal Friday/Saturday affair, the series was pushed back a day following soaking rains in the Corpus Christi area. The series was shifted back to a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. with a Sunday finale also scheduled for a noon start. All games will still air on ESPN+.
 
The pair of clutch hits, the triple from Delafield and the RBI single from Liscano, were just the latest clutch plays from a group of freshmen Demons that have come through on multiple occasions this season. Now 31 games into the season, while still in their first season in Natchitoches, the experience on the field has them "playing up" in many ways.
 
"At this point in the season we're expecting them to and the standard is to approach things like an upperclassman," head coach Lacy Prejean said. "Now they are all continuing to learn and having to make adjustments, but that's how all of them are going to keep getting better."
 
The makeup of this year's roster, with 10 seniors with more than 130 career starts, has helped accelerate the maturation of the young playmakers – Delafield, Liscano, Sophia Livers and Cameron Curtis.
 
"Honestly our freshmen are dogs," senior Taylor Williams said with a laugh. "They're so good and they work really hard. They came in and we told them they had to be seniors on the field and they needed to step up and they've done such a good job of that."
 
Their success, while due to their talent level and the work done outside of just practice, also stems from a connection with the seniors that began back during the fall and a product of Prejean's challenge to the senior class.
 
"Watching them succeed and flourish and do what they've been doing is really heartwarming," Williams said. "At the beginning our senior class were intentionally about taking them and showing them how we believe in them and how we needed them this year. They've come to us asking to do extra work and go hit and wanted to learn from us. They've been a huge part of our team this year."
 
Their play will be just as important this weekend against the Islanders has it has been all season and moving forward the rest of the year.
 
Corpus was swept this past weekend on the road at UIW after picking up a sweep on opening weekend against Texas A&M-Commerce. After allowing just four hits in her two starts against the Lions, Primrose Aholelei, the 2023 Southland Pitcher of the Year, was knocked around by UIW to the tune of 12 hits and 13 runs in just 7 2/3 innings of work across two games, raising her season ERA by nearly a full run.
 
Prior to the rocky weekend, Aholelei near the top of the conference in ERA but still holds the league lead in strikeouts with 112, the third most in the NCAA, in 16 appearances and 87.0 innings of work. Her 9.0 strikeout/7 rate is the 25^th highest in the country.
 
"You just have to go in thinking your better than the pitcher," Williams said about facing a strikeout pitcher like Aholelei. "I know that we've all put in the work to be successful. We've scouted. We've worked on things. Done execution practice with people on base and that's really helped us move into the game more and making those big moments feel smaller when we're playing."