NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State got two win-worthy pitching performances from Brooklynn Stohler and Kaymie Chandler against Stephen F. Austin. Unfortunately, the missing timely hits led to a pair of two-run losses, 3-1 and 4-2, on Friday afternoon at the Demon Diamond.
 
Stohler threw her conference-leading eighth complete game of the season in the series opener allowing just four hits and three runs, only one of them earned. She induced 17 fly ball outs in the game and retired the final 10 batters she faced in a row from the end of the fourth inning through the rest of the game.
 
Chandler surrendered just three hits through the first five innings of game two and put up six consecutive scoreless frames as the Demons clung to a 1-0 lead. She finished with 6 1/3 innings of shutout work, matching a season-best with just one walk.
 
"I was really proud of the way the Brooklynn and Kaymie pitched today," head coach Jenny Fuller said. "They did exactly what they needed to do and gave us a chance to win. Both of them created a bunch of soft contact and kept SFA from hitting the ball hard for pretty much the whole day. We just didn't do enough at the plate to give them that support with a few more timely hits."
 
The Demons (4-33, 1-14) wrap up the three-game series with SFA (19-19, 8-6) on Sunday with a 12 p.m. first pitch.
 
Game One – SFA 3, NSU 1
 
After a scoreless first, both teams used small ball to score their first run of the game in the second.
 
A hit batter, steal of second and wild pitch for the Lumberjacks made a two-out hit through the left side and easy trot home for SFA's Adelyn Becerra to score the first run of the game.
 
Back-to-back singles from Brynn Daniel and Riley Schwisow in the bottom of the inning set up Cameron Curtis to lay down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance them both into scoring position. A Bailie Ragsdale chopper moved the second baseman enough to her right to allow Daniel to slide in safely on the fielder's choice to tie the game.
 
The lone error of the game for the Demons opened the door for the only other two runs that scored in the game in the top of the fourth.
 
An errant throw to first that would have been the second out of the inning forced the Demons to get four outs in the frame instead of the traditional three. Stohler struck the following batter out, the out that would have ended the inning, but surrendered back-to-back hits, the first a triple to right center and a second a two-foot perfectly placed bunt up the third base line. Both hits scored a run and gave SFA the 3-1 lead.
 
Stohler got the final out of the inning on a pop up to third, starting the stretch of 10 straight batters she retired in order.
 
The Demons brought the tying run to the plate in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings thanks to hits from Daniel, Carissa Hernandez and Aly Delafield respectively, all with one out. None of those batters advanced past second base in any of those innings.
 
Demon hitters tallied six hits off of SFA starter Alexis Telford, matching the most by a team in conference play this season, and the second most of any team this year off the senior southpaw.
 
Both Daniel and Schwisow finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate.
 
Game Two – SFA 4, NSU 2 (8)
 
The Demons took the lead four batters into the game thanks to a leadoff walk from Sophia Livers and ringing double from Aly Delafield that put two in scoring position two batters into the game.
 
Brynn Daniel picked up her 14^th RBI of the season two batters later on a sacrifice fly to center.
 
For the next five innings though, it was the Kaymie Chandler and Reagan Hall show in the pitching circle. Neither hurler allowed a single run over the ensuing five innings with only one player, Riley Schwisow in the bottom of the fourth, advancing past second base.
 
Hall, who entered the game in relief of starter Brooke Gainous to start the second inning, did not give up a hit through the first 4 1/3 innings she pitched. Four walks during that time however gave the Demons chances that they let slip through their fingers.
 
Chandler meanwhile stifled the SFA bats with just three hits during the first five innings and took a shutout into the seventh inning with her team ahead 1-0.
 
She struck out the first batter of the inning but three straight singles, only one of them leaving the infield, chased Chandler from the circle and tied the game at one. SFA took the lead on a squeeze bunt from the next batter scoring the runner from third.
 
In the bottom of the inning Hall retired the first two batters she faced with a strikeout and fly ball to right.
 
Delafield, who hit the double in the first inning to set up NSU's first run of the game, smacked another two-bagger in the seventh setting up its second.
 
Down to her final strike, the Demons' RBI leader, DJ Lynch, shot a ball right back up the middle scoring Delafield from second tying the game a two, and moving into scoring position herself on the throw to the plate. Brynn Daniel walked on four pitches in the ensuing at bat but a strikeout left both runners stranded and sent the game to extra innings.
 
The Demons' two-out rally in the seventh was matched by SFA in the eighth. 
 
A leadoff single and sacrifice bunt put the go-ahead run at second with a fly ball to left giving the Demons two outs in the inning. A hit batter and back-to-back RBI singles scored two runs to give the 'Jacks back the lead before the final out was recorded.
 
Bailie Ragsdale reached base in the bottom of the inning on a throwing error, but two straight pop ups on the infield left any chance at another rally wanting.
 
The Demons made the most of their four hits in the game, leading to their two runs, and all coming from the two, three and four hole hitters in the lineup. Delafield hit a career-best two doubles in the game, extending her conference hitting streak to eight straight games.
 
With Friday's results the Demons are now 3-13 in games decided by two runs or less this year and 1-9 in those games against conference opponents.