YOUNGSVILLE, La. – Free passes can be harmful for any team, for Northwestern State in Sunday's finale of the Mardi Gras Mambo they were deadly.
Eight total walks, including seven in the game-deciding top of the third, led to four of St. Thomas' (7-3) nine runs on the day in a 9-1 run-rule win against the Demons (3-8) in five innings.
Up 1-0 after the first at-bat of the game as the Tommies' leadoff batter Avery Wukawitz homered to the opposite field, she added to her day with a leadoff home run to dead center to open the third inning.
Eight of the next nine batters reached base in the inning as the 2-0 lead on a pair of solo home runs ballooned to an 8-0 lead by the end of the half inning.
The Demons offered a swift response following the grueling inning with back-to-back two-out hits from
Mckenna Rinewalt and
Brynn Daniel. A third straight hit came off the bat of
Sister Arnold, a shallow flare on the infield, that led to Rinewalt sliding in safely at home after a rundown attempt with Daniel between second and third.
The Tommies got the lone NSU run of the game right back in the top of the fourth with their third solo home run of the day, this one from Grace Nosan, to put them back into run-rule territory.
NSU got hits from
Abby Hollingsworth and Daniel in the fourth and fifth innings but could not spark another comeback attempt.
Daniel finished the day 3-for-3 with three singles, the third three-hit game of her career, first this year, matching a career high.
The Demons return to action on Tuesday night as the travel to Ruston for the first home-and-home game this year with Louisiana Tech. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
