RUSTON – Northwestern State softball returns to action following its home opening weekend with its first matchup against a Louisiana school this year in the first of five midweek games this season on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Demons travel north to face Louisiana Tech with a 4 p.m. first pitch at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field. The game was moved up two hours from its original 6 p.m. start due to forecasted weather in the area.
 
The game can still be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
NSU picked up its first win of the season in its home opener in walk-off fashion on Saturday afternoon. The 10-inning affair against Memphis, and the subsequent Sunday finale against the Tigers, highlighted what has been and what will remain the goal for first-year head coach Jenny Fuller – get players reps.
 
Every single player on the roster has seen action in at least six of the nine games the Demons have played this year. All 15 of the primary position players have made at least two starts so far this season and Fuller has used a unique starting lineup through all nine games.
 
There are only three players – Sophia Livers, Riley Schwisow and Camryn Becnel – that have started all nine games so far this year. Three of the four pitchers on the staff have started at least one game this year.
 
In the win against Memphis on Saturday 14 players stepped into the box for a plate appearance and produced seven hits. A day later all nine batters in the lineup recorded a hit, with Schwisow the lone multi-hit player, as NSU reached double figures in the hit column for the first time this season.
 
"It's nice to see the hits coming in bunches in that second game," Fuller said following Sunday's game. "We were just missing that timely hit, which I think goes back to our youth and inexperience. But I do think the more games we play, the more experience they'll get and the more comfortable they'll get in those tough situations. That'll allow them to dig down a little more and hopefully get us that game-winning run.
 
The same strategy used on player at the plate has applied to the ones that toe the pitching rubber.
 
Brooklyn Stohler has pitched her way to the ace of the staff, ranking second in the country with four complete games in her six starts this year, the third most in the NCAA. Her 35.0 innings pitched is also the eighth most in the nation. She leads the Southland in all of those categories as well.
 
Stohler tossed two more complete games this past weekend, including going all 10 innings to earn her first win on Saturday, doing so with an average of 12.7 pitches per inning. By comparison, Memphis pitchers threw an average of 18.7 per inning in that game.
 
Stohler has carried the bulk of the load in the circle so far with Kaymie Chandler and Aly Delafield providing just over 11.0 innings worth of outs each.