NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State fell victim to a locked in opposing pitcher and missing timely hits in a pair of losses to Lamar on Friday evening.
 
The Demons (5-37, 2-18) scored two first-inning runs to take an early lead, but were quickly put in check by Cardinal (24-19, 12-8) starting pitcher Reagan Smith who surrendered just one hit over the final six innings in a 6-2 Lamar victory in game one.
 
Eight runners left on base through the first four innings of game two came back to haunt the Demons in a pitcher's duel through five scoreless frames. A four-run sixth for the Cardinals was all the offense they needed to take a 4-1 victory in the nightcap and series win in Natchitoches.
 
The two teams wrap up the NSU alumni weekend series on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m.
 
Game One – Lamar 6, NSU 2
 
Lamar slugger Veronica Harrison left her mark on the game in a big way in her first two trips to the plate. A solo home run in the first gave the Cardinals the lead two batters into the game, and a two-run shot in her second time up put them back on top in the third.
 
Following Harrison's first long ball of the game, the Demons rallied for a pair of first-inning runs to thanks to three straight two-out hits.
 
Sophia Livers started the two-out scoring with a walk and moved to second on a Brynn Daniel single to left center. The Demons' RBI leader added to her total as DJ Lynch wrapped a ball around the third base bag for a double to tie the game. Three pitches later Riley Schwisow flared a ball into shallow left to scored Daniel and give the Demons a 2-1 lead.
 
Schwisow's hit was the first of two in the game for the sophomore transfer, with her second, and the Demons final hit of the game, a double off the wall in her next trip to the plate in the bottom of the fourth.
 
The Demons put up all they could against Cardinal starter Reagan Smith in the first inning as she retired 19 of the final 20 batters she faced following the RBI single in the first. The only walk she allowed, to Livers in the first, came into score as she struck out five in a complete game effort.
 
The third-inning home run flipped the lead back to the Cardinals, thanks to Harrison, adding to it on an RBI singles in the fourth and sixth and scoring an unearned run on a throwing error in the seventh.
 
Schwisow picked up her fifth multi-hit game of the season with an RBI single and a double, adding a stolen base to her box score.
 
Game Two – Lamar 4, NSU 1
 
It was a pitcher's game in the Friday finale as NSU starter Brooklynn Stohler and reigning Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week, Lamar's Mallory Pitre battled to a scoreless draw through the first five innings.
 
Stohler struck out the first three batters she faced in the first, allowed just two hits through the first five innings of play and did not allow a single baserunner to reach second base during that time.
 
Pitre on the other hand had plenty of stressful pitches over the course of three straight innings as the Demons put eight baserunners on base behind five hits a pair of walks and an error across between the second and fourth innings.
 
Schwisow reached on Lamar's lone error of the day and found her way to third after a Livers infield single and Sara Kate Booker walk, all coming with one out. An infield fly to short and fly ball to center left the early lead standing on the bases after two innings.
 
Three straight one-out bloop singles in the third gave the Demons an immediate second chance to take the lead in the third. Ragsdale, Lynch and Daniel all found space between the infield and outfield for base hits to lead the bases for the second straight inning.
 
A ground ball to third led to the second with a force out at home before a fly ball to left again stranded all three runners on the bases.
 
Stohler put up her fourth straight zero in the next half inning and the Demons put together one more run-scoring chance in the fourth with a two-out double down the right field line from Aly Delafield. A ground ball to second however left both Delafield and Tori Clayton standing in scoring position.
 
After a one-two-three inning by both Stohler and Pitre in the fifth inning, an error to open the sixth served as the drop that poisoned the well for the Demons.
 
A one-out walk put another runner on base and moved the go-ahead run to third in the process. A second wild pitch of the inning scored the unearned run and opened floodgates for the Cardinals. Another walk followed by a double and triple quickly turned a scoreless pitcher's duel into a 4-0 Lamar lead.
 
The Demons received a massive spark however in the bottom of the inning when Sophia Livers became the sixth Demon this year to hit their first career home run. The sophomore centerfielder launched a no-doubt ball over the wall in left to open the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Carissa Hernandez singled with one out two batters later, but the Demons could not produce anything else the rest of the frame or in the seventh, going down in order to end the game.
 
Livers had a pair of hits in the game to pick up her team-leading eighth multi-hit game of the season. Stohler threw 5 1/3 innings giving up four hits and three earned runs with three strikeouts in the loss.