STARKVILLE, Miss. – The youngest team in the country hit a growth spurt on Sunday afternoon.
A team of 17 underclassmen – 11 freshmen — went toe-to-toe with Mississippi State, the 20th-ranked team in the country, and came out with a stunning 5-0 win, and a new level of confidence.
“As a coaching staff we are so proud of our team today because they showed so much heart and were really gritty,” first-year head coach Jenny Fuller said. “That started in the circle with Brooklynn (Stohler). She did really well against them yesterday (in a 3-2 loss), so they knew she was going to get the ball again. We developed a really good game plan and executed that plan. I’m so proud of our team for really believing that could do it the whole game.”
The win against a ranked opponent is the first for Northwestern softball since a 4-1 victory against then No. 24 ranked Cal State Fullerton in 2004.
It is also the first win against an SEC foe since a 1-0 shutout victory against Mississippi State in 2016. NSU has won three of the previous four overall meetings with the Bulldogs after Sunday’s result.
One day after holding the Bulldogs (18-3) to only three runs in a one-run loss and tossing her sixth complete game of the season, freshman Stohler took the ball again on Sunday brimming with confidence.
“I had a game plan,” Stohler said. “I knew that in order to keep them off the board I would have to stick to it and trust my defense. I am so proud of them. The outfield was a no-fly zone and there were no errors. It wouldn’t have been possible without everyone.”
Stohler’s plan of pitching to contact and allowing her defense to work behind her worked exactly as intended. The Bulldogs tallied just one hit through the first five innings of the game.
Stohler induced 17 fly ball outs into the wind, retiring 24 of the 27 total batters she faced on a supremely efficient 81 pitches to earn her first career shutout.
Her dominance in the circle was supported by an offense the took advantage of early mistakes to gain the lead.
A throwing error and two wild pitches in the top of the second gave NSU (3-17) the early lead when Cameron Curtis slid home safely.
The Demons held that edge behind Stohler and the defense’s efforts until some late-game theatrics extended the lead. Aly Delafield’s well-executed slide allowed her to dodge the catcher’s tag and make it 2-0 on a Savannah Coleman double in the sixth inning.
Curtis followed with a sharp RBI single through the left side and Sophia Livers’ two-run single through the right side gave the Demons a five-run cushion. Livers and Curtis each had a pair of hits and had a part in all five runs the Demons scored in the game.
“This can definitely give us momentum especially heading into conference,” Fuller said. “This is a great way to finish the non-conference season. Knowing you can beat the No. 20 ranked team at their place, we can probably beat anybody out there.”
NSU split a pair of slugfests with Alabama State in the weekend tournament and lost once to New Mexico.
TRACK AND FIELD CONTENDING AT SLC INDOORS: With Natchitoches Central product Madison Brown capturing the women’s pole vault championship, the two-time defending champion Northwestern State women’s team is in the thick of the race for the team title entering today’s conclusion of the Southland Conference Indoor Championships in Birmingham.
NSU has 33 points and sits in third place. Lamar is first with 51. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is second with 37.
The Northwestern men are in fourth place with 24 points. UIW is out in front with 48. Most scoring will take place today with sprint finals and more field event finals along with relays and some distance races.
Brown and junior Peyten Ware posted a 1-2 finish in the pole vault. Brown, a grad student from Natchitoches, took gold after earning the bronze in the 2024 conference indoor meet. She entered the competition Sunday as the favorite and lived up to it, clearing a season-best 13 feet,1 ½ inches.
Brown wasn’t done, either, as she went over to the 60-meter hurdles and advanced to the finals with a personal-best 8.72, becoming one of four Lady Demons to reach today’s eight-woman finals. All score if they finish the race.
Maygan Shaw won the prelims in both the 200 and 400. In her main event, the 400-meter dash, a whopping five Lady Demons moved onto the finals.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ROLLS: Suffocating defense along with a 27-0 run spanning the first and second quarters propelled the Northwestern women’s basketball team to a 71-53 rout over Houston Christian on Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum, winning its third in a row.
The Demons (14-14, 11-8) held HCU (6-23, 3-17) without a point for 13:41, spanning the first and second quarters, to blow open the game. The Huskies did not score in the second quarter until 23 seconds to play in the period. During the run, Northwestern poured in 27 consecutive points to blow the game open, 44-8.
BASEBALL BOWS: In Hammond, the Demons went extra innings Sunday but couldn’t break through in a 6-5 loss that completed a sweep by Southeastern of the opening series in SLC play. The Lions won the opener 6-2 Friday night, then took Saturday’s contest 7-3 as NSU left 12 runners on base.
NSU’s Rocco Gump finished a home run shy of the cycle Sunday, posting his second straight three-hit day.
“Opening weekend (of conference play), we are well aware of the importance of not being satisfied with the results, but we can either let it define us or we can come out and rewrite the story by learning from what took place over three games and putting it to use in all of our future ball games,” NSU coach Chris Bertrand said.
Northwestern (4-7) returns to action Tuesday night when it hosts LeTourneau to start a six-game homestand. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field. SLU, coached by former Demon infielder and later head coach Bobby Barbier, rose to 10-2 with the sweep.
TENNIS: After a 4-3 victory Saturday in the conference opener at UNO, the Lady Demons visit Nicholls today for another SLC match.