flush it and get ready for tomorrow. We're still in control of how we respond."CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – There are days when no matter how hard you try or how well you play, things just don't go your way. Friday was that day for Northwestern State softball.
 
Despite a brilliant defensive effort through steady 20-mile-per-hour winds all afternoon and 19 total hits, the Demons (23-24, 12-11) dropped a pair of close games at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (13-34, 7-16), 2-1 in extra innings and 7-5.
 
"It's a frustrating day because we did a lot of things well enough to win both games," head coach Jenny Fuller said. "Sometimes the game just doesn't reward you, and today was one of those days. I thought our effort and execution were there in a lot of areas, especially defensively. We just didn't get the big hit when we needed it. We just have to flush it and get ready for tomorrow. We're still in control of how we respond."
 
The combination of good pitching, stellar defense and a howling wind made for a tough day at the plate for both teams in game one.
 
Neither team produced much of a threat through the first three innings, with both pitchers, Mattison Buster for NSU and Josie Whitehead for Corpus Christi, facing just one batter over the minimum.
 
NSU's bread and butter in the game, its defense, showed itself in the second inning when Sister Arnold threw out a runner trying to steal second to end the frame. It was the first of five outs the Demons recorded on the base paths.
 
It was NSU that finally broke through in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of an Islander error and a walk to put two runners on with one out. Makynlie Jones lined a base hit to left to score Peyton Young and give the Demons a 1-0 lead.
 
With Buster in the circle, one run has been enough most of the time. For the next two innings, it appeared it would be again Friday.
 
Both the fourth and fifth innings ended with a Demon outfielder throwing out the potential tying run at the plate. Mckenna Rinewalt started a perfect relay through Riley Schwisow to Arnold for the out in the fourth. Jones followed in the fifth, cutting down the tying run at the plate for the first of her two outfield assists in the game.
 
Jones added another big defensive play in the seventh, throwing out a runner attempting to advance to third, the potential winning run, to end the inning.
 
Buster was not able to escape a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth, however, as a triple just past the glove of a lunging Rinewalt in left tied the game at one.
 
NSU put runners on base in the sixth with back-to-back hits but could not find the timely hit it needed to regain the lead. Jones' arm in right helped send the game to extra innings, where the Demons put runners aboard in both the eighth and ninth but were unable to capitalize.

After coming up short despite getting the winning run aboard in the seventh and eighth, the Islanders broke through in the ninth. A one-out single to left put the winning run on base, and a heads-up steal of second, with the ball still in the pitching circle, moved her into scoring position. A bunt single advanced her to third, and although Buster recorded a huge strikeout for the second out, a 3-2 base hit down the left-field line brought in the winning run.
 
The Demons put the tough loss behind them quickly in game two, taking the lead in the second.
 
Aly Delafield started things with the second of her three hits on the day, a single up the middle. She scored on a Britt Bourgoyne base hit to left four batters later to give NSU a 1-0 lead. The advantage grew in the third when the Demons capitalized on a bases-loaded opportunity.
 
Arnold worked a five-pitch walk, and Sophia Livers added a sacrifice fly to left to push the lead to 3-0. The Islanders answered with an unearned run in the bottom half following a rare error at second, but Buster, who also started game two, limited the damage.
 
NSU got that run back and added another in the fourth. Brynn Daniel, who had four hits,  including two doubles in the doubleheader, drove in JT Smith from second. Daniel later scored on a Jones single to left, giving the Demons a 5-1 edge.
 
After throwing 158 pitches across 8 2/3 innings in sun-splashed, windy game one, Buster showed she is in face human in the bottom of the fourth of game two.
 
A one-out walk and a triple plated a run for the Islanders, followed by a single to score another. Buster induced a groundout for the second out but could not escape the inning. An infield single, another walk and a bases-loaded, two-run single tied the game at five.
 
Following a pitching change, a two-run double to left-center capped a six-run inning for the Islanders and gave them a 7-5 lead after four innings.
 
Buster's yeoman's effort for the day totaled 235 pitches across 12 1/3 innings. Brooklyn Stohler finished the final 2 1/3 innings, holding the Islanders scoreless on two hits, but the Demons managed just one more threat, a pair of two-out singles in the sixth that did not produce a run.