ARLINGTON, Texas – Northwestern State's season of firsts continues this weekend as they make their first trip into Texas this year to play in the Sixth Annual Boerner Invitational hosted by UT Arlington. 

 

Following two different weather-related schedule changes, the Demons (1-9) are now set to play a pair of game on both Saturday and Sunday, including meetings with the host Mavericks on both days. Information on regarding ESPN+ broadcasts of matchups with UTA will be announced at a later time. 

 

NSU opens the weekend with a 12:30 p.m. start against North Texas on Saturday afternoon. The weekend will also feature the first meeting ever with Yale on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. They will play all four games in the span of just over 24 hours. 

 

Over the first 10 games of the season all 13 newcomers to the young team have made their Demon debuts. Eight of those players have picked up either their first career hit or, in the case of Division II transfer Riley Schwisow, first hit for NSU. 

 

Sophomore Aly Delafield even jumped in on the firsts this year with her first career home run on Tuesday night at Louisiana Tech. 

 

Schwisow and freshman Brynn Daniel pace the crop of first-year Demons with batting averaged of .269 and .250 respectively. They sit just a few points behind leadoff batter sophomore Sophia Livers and her .276 mark and team-leading two doubles. 

 

"I'm proud of our players," Fuller said. "We're working really hard and doing the things we're supposed to do and think we've shown moments of what we're capable of. It's just really piecing it all together." 

 

The Demons have had games where they put up crooked offensive numbers and games where the pitching has been light's out, but continue to search for the combination to come together at the same time.  

 

And two weeks into the season, Fuller has not been shy about seeking out the right combination with 10 unique starting lineups through the first 10 games of the season. There have been six games this year in which 12 or more offensive players were used, including two instances with 14 were used. 

 

"We tell them all the time that even if they aren't in the starting lineup to stay ready because you're probably going to put you in at some point," Fuller said. "And that's valuable in the fact that they all get reps and we're getting better as each game goes along." 

 

The combinations the Demons will send out this weekend will be against one of the tougher weekend slates of the season. 

 

North Texas (8-2) is hitting .275 as a team with four players batting right at or above .300 for the season. They are ranked No. 14 in the latest D1softball.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll.  

 

The host UTA (4-7), playing their first home games of the season, averaged five runs per game through their first six before facing off with three top 25 teams this past weekend at the LSU Tournament who limited the Mavericks offensive output to four runs over five games. Yale will be playing its first games of the season this weekend but feature an experienced roster with 12 upperclassmen that won 20 games a season ago. 

 

"We're playing three good team and three well coached teams," Fuller said. "North Texas is always one of the top mid-majors so we know they're going to be able to do all phases well. And the same goes for UTA and Yale. We're doing our part with the scout and just trying to be as prepared as possible."