A pair of shutouts and a near perfect game earned Northwestern State’s Maggie Darr the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.
On a weekend filled with exceptional performances by the Lady Demon (6-3) pitching staff, Darr stood just a bit taller than the rest, and not just because of her 6-foot-3 frame.
The redshirt sophomore tossed two complete game shutouts for two of NSU’s five wins on the weekend. All told she allowed just four hits in 14.0 innings of work across three appearances and struck out 19.
After a shutout of Florida A&M with a run-rule 9-0 win in her first start on Friday, Darr came entered the game in relief on Saturday, slamming the door on Gardner-Webb by striking out five of the six batters she faced, setting the stage for her Sunday finale.
The Missouri City, Texas, native retired the first 16 Toledo batters of the game, carrying a perfect game into the sixth inning. The only blemish came on a one-out single in the sixth as she finished the day with nine strikeouts, allowed two total baserunners, the second coming on a dropped third strike on her ninth punch out in the seventh, and faced just one batter over the minimum.
In her three appearances in NSU’s 5-0 weekend at the Mardi Gras Mambo, batters went a combined 4-for-47 (.085) at the plate against Darr.
After the first two weekends of play, Darr leads the conference with the lowest opponent batting average against (.162), total strikeouts (37) and strikeouts looking (11). She ranks in the top 10 in ERA (1.47), innings pitched (28.2), wins (3) and fewest walks allowed (4).
Darr and the Demons take open the 2023 home schedule on Wednesday, weather permitting, against Grambling before a challenging weekend at the North Texas Invitational on Saturday and Sunday.
