BEAUMONT, Texas – Northwestern State started hot but had to hang on late in order to pick up its third road conference series victory of the season on Wednesday afternoon.
 
The Demons (23-22, 12-9) scored the first eight runs of the game, starting with a four-run first, to jump out to a commanding lead. Lamar (26-20, 12-9) rallied with a four-run fifth to cut into the lead, but it was not enough to overcome NSU's early work in a 9-6 win.
 
Demon ace Mattison Buster tossed her 19^th complete game of the season to pick up her 20^th win. It is the most wins by an NSU pitcher since Amie Ford's 21 tied the single-season record in 2004.
 
"It was definitely a roller coaster of a game," head coach Jenny Fuller said. "But we stayed the course, kept fighting, didn't get too down about it and that ultimately led to a victory. So I'm really proud of them for sticking through that game."
 
After 19 hits and 11 runs scored in the doubleheader on Tuesday, Fuller was confident the offense would maintain that same edge on Wednesday. They proved her right in the first inning.
 
Mckenna Rinewalt shot a double through the left side for the first hit of the game beginning a stretch of six straight Demons to reach base in the first inning. Brynn Daniel recorded her sixth hit of the series to drive in her sixth run to get the Demons on the board.
 
Aly Delafield singled to load the bases followed by a Makynlie Jones walk and Sister Arnold two-run double to left, giving NSU a 4-0 lead and forcing a second Lamar pitching change in the first seven batters.
 
Delafield brought in two more runs in the second on a single to center and Makynlie Jones launched her third home run of the year in the fourth to give NSU a commanding 8-0 lead through three and a half innings.
 
"Yesterday I thought our offense looked really good," Fuller said. "JT (Smith) was good yesterday and had some more hits today. When she can do that the rest of the lineup can take the lead from her. Think most of the lineup had a hit today and were rolling with a lot of momentum. 
 
"We came out with a lot of energy today and it felt like we really wanted it from the jump. Really proud of how we set the tone in the first inning and scoring often."
 
After very little success against Buster the first time through the lineup, the Cardinals changed their strategy to attack early and it paid dividends.
 
Back-to-back single started the fourth inning, on three total pitches, which Lamar turned into its first run. It took just nine pitches for them to score two more runs in the fifth inning, preventing the Demons from ending the game early via the run-rule for the second straight time. A two-run triple followed by a two-run home run pulled the Cardinals back within slam range at 9-5 after the fifth.
 
"Lamar is a really good offensive team, especially at home," Fuller said. "But with Buster in the circle we feel confident and she is really good about getting out of situations when runners get on base. Even though they scored some in that one inning, we didn't feel sorry for ourselves or throw ourselves a pity party, we kept rolling and finished it out."
 
Three straight hits to start the sixth led to another Lamar run, but with runners at second and third and one out, Buster got a huge strikeout for out number two and a fly ball to right to strand both runners.
 
The Cardinals got one more hit in the seventh, but she did not advance beyond first base as Buster recovered from a fly ball out at the wall on the first pitch swinging effort from slugging catcher Makenzie Wright to get the final batter looking at strike three to end the game.
 
Eight of the nine starters in the game had a hit for the Demons, plus a pinch-hit single from Abby Hollingsworth in the seventh inning. The top five hitters in the lineup combined for nine of NSU's conference-high 13 hits in the game.