SAN ANTONIO – Northwestern State showed the same grit and heart it has all season in a pair of losses to UIW on Friday afternoon.
 
The Demons (4-36, 1-16) snapped a lengthy scoreless inning streak by UIW (22-14, 12-5) ace Larissa Jacquez in a 7-2 loss in game one, and fought back from a five-run, first-inning deficit in game two behind a yeoman's effort from pitcher Grace Ann McDonald in an 8-7 loss in game two. NSU outscored UIW 7-3 over the final six innings of the game.
 
"We showed some fight and grit by coming back in game two, and I like to see that from our hitters," head coach Jenny Fuller said. "Hopefully tomorrow we can come out and pitch a little more focused from the start and hopefully our hitters can do what they did today."
 
NSU and UIW wrap up the three game conference midweek series on Wednesday afternoon at 12 p.m.
 
Game One – UIW 7, NSU 2
 
The first two innings of the day belonged solely to the two starting pitchers. NSU's Brooklynn Stohler and UIW's Larissa Jacquez combined to face one over the minimum and put up four quick zeros on the scoreboard.
 
Jacquez extended her early success in the third with another 1-2-3 inning, but Stohler was hurt by a pair of walks and a bright, high sky that aided two pop ups behind short fall leading to a pair of runs.
 
The two would-be outs combined with four free passes, three walks and a hit batter, led to three Cardinal runs.
 
NSU's first blemish against Jacquez came from the hottest bat in the lineup to start the top of the fourth, a single from Aly Delafield right back through the box. She moved to second on a ground out but was left standing there as the inning ended.
 
Another walk and hit batter led to a fourth UIW run in the bottom of the fourth, chasing Stohler from the game after 3 1/3 innings.
 
The first three batters of the fifth for the Cardinals reached base leading to a one-out double from Ryleigh Mata that stretched the UIW lead to 6-0. An RBI groundout from the following batter put the Cardinals ahead by seven.
 
Delafield got her second hit of the game in the sixth, but was left standing at second for the second time, extending Jacquez' scoreless inning streak to 23.0 straight, all in conference play.
 
Brynn Daniel opened the seventh with her fourth double of the season, followed by a Riley Schwisow walk to put two on with no outs. Sophia Livers used her speed on a slow roller between first and second to beat out a hit and force an errant throw that allowed both Daniel and Schwisow to score on the play, snapping the long streak by Jacquez, who had shut out McNeese and HCU in her previous two starts.
 
Game Two – UIW 8, NSU 7
 
Four straight hits from the Cardinals put the Demons behind quickly in game two. A double and triple scored the first three batters to give them a 3-0 lead. A two run single later in the inning added two more to make it a 5-0 game after the first inning of play.
 
An error in the top of the third opened the door for the first crooked number inning for the Demons. With Cash Herber at first, Aly Delafield lasered a ball just far down the right field line for her first triple of the season to get the Demons on the board.
 
Two pitches later Bailie Ragsdale looped one into shallow left for an RBI single, the second of four straight batter to reach safely for the Demons. DJ Lynch singled to left and Brynn Daniel drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases with one out.
 
Sara Kate Booker drove in the third run of the inning on a fielder's choice to second pulling the Demons back within two through three innings of play.
 
After entering the game in the bottom of the first with no outs and a runner at third, Grace Ann McDonald put up three straight scoreless frames, giving the Demons time to figure out things at the plate. She allowed just two earned runs over the final five innings of work
 
"She came in and did a great job of keeping the game close and she did what she could," Fuller said. "I'm proud of her because she came in not knowing she was going to pitch this year and she's definitely come in some tough situations and is doing her best to keep us right there in games."
 
A pair of runs, only one of them earned, in the fifth gave the Cardinals a 7-3 lead, but the Demons got both runs allowed back in the top of the next inning.
 
A pair of one-out walks put runners at first and second for Sophia Livers to slash a ball to left that bounced by the fielder all the way to the wall for the Demons second triple of the game and two RBI for Livers.
 
UIW got what turned out to be a critical run in the bottom of the inning to stretch the lead back to three on an RBI single.
 
A leadoff single from Ragsdale and a walk from Daniel put two aboard for Sara Kate Booker, who hit her second double, this time down the left field line, scoring both runners on the play and putting herself in scoring position as the tying run.
 
The final two batters of the game popped up on the infield to end the comeback attempt.
 
It served as the 10^th loss in conference play for NSU that has been decided by two runs or less.