CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – After two days on the island, Northwestern State developed a case of tetraphobia (fear of the number four) across its final two games with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Demons (23-25, 12-12) saw a four-run lead disappear in a six-run Islander (14-34, 8-16) fourth-inning explosion on Friday evening. They followed that with another decisive fourth inning on Saturday, as the Islanders scored seven runs in the frame to secure a 7-2 win.
"It really came down to one inning again," head coach
Jenny Fuller said. "We did a lot of good things on both sides and had some things not go our way but you can't give teams extra chances and expect to come out on top. We've got to find a way to stop the momentum in those innings."
The offensive outburst from the Islanders came after starting pitcher
Brooklynn Stohler limited them to just one hit and two baserunners through the first three innings and one trip through the order.
The Demons scored first for the third time in the series, finally capitalizing after leaving four runners on base in the first three innings.
Makynlie Jones opened the fourth with a single up the middle and later scored on a
Riley Schwisow single three batters later.
Schwisow had a pair of hits and reached on a walk, getting on base in all three of her plate appearances.
The lead lasted only a few batters into the bottom of the inning, as three of the first four Islanders reached to load the bases with one out. A bases-clearing double to left gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead and forced a Demon pitching change.
Grace Birk walked the first batter she faced but struck out the next for the second out of the inning. A ground ball up the middle was smothered by
Peyton Young at short, who raced to second and appeared to record the force out, but the runner was ruled safe to extend the inning despite a challenge from NSU.
Following a lengthy review, back-to-back walks brought in two more runs to make it 5-1. The Demons were again on the verge of escaping when
Britt Bourgoyne made a diving stop at second and flipped to the bag for what was initially called the third out. However, upon review, the runner was ruled safe, allowing one run to score on the play and the Islanders were gifted a second despite the review.
The Islanders scored all seven of their runs in the fourth inning on four hits and managed just one hit across their other five trips to the plate. They accounted for 13 of their 16 runs in the three-game series in the fourth inning.
NSU got a run back in the fifth on a Jones RBI double, but more misfortune followed. After putting the first two runners on, a ground ball to short turned into an unusual 6-4-3-2 double play. The return throw to first sailed wide, but the first baseman fielded a favorable ricochet off the dugout net and fired home to retire
Sophia Livers at the plate.
Erin Kirkland pitched the final two innings for the Demons, allowing just a pair of walks and an infield single while striking out five. She fanned two to end the fifth and struck out the side in the sixth.
"Erin gave us exactly what we needed there at the end," Fuller said. "She attacked hitters, filled up the zone and really settled things down for us. That's something we can definitely build on."
The Demons close the regular season at home next weekend against Nicholls.
