RUSTON – The Northwestern State softball team fell into an early hole and couldn’t recover Tuesday evening in a 12-3 run-rule loss at Louisiana Tech.
Four walks and an error by NSU in the bottom of the first inning led to six Tech runs. All four free passes came in to score in the inning as the Bulldogs (9-2) needed just two hits, a pair of RBI singles, to jump out to a commanding lead. Northwestern (3-9) put up three runs in the fourth but it was not enough to extend the game.
“Obviously not the start we wanted, the walks and free passes really put us in a tough spot early and you can’t do that against good teams,” Northwestern coach Jenny Fuller said. “I was proud of the way we kept competing.
“We responded with some better at-bats later in the game and put a few runs on the board. That kind of fight is definitely something we can build on moving forward. Now it’s about cleaning up the things that put us in that hole to begin with.”
The Bulldogs sent 11 batters to the plate in the first and followed that with nine in the second, cashing in two more free passes early in the frame, a walk and hit batter, on a three-run home run off the bat of Reese Torres.
All told, six batters reached base without the benefit of a hit and came in to score in the first two innings for the Bulldogs.
Highlighting the visitors’ fourth inning, Aly Delafield shot an RBI base hit to left and Hayden Andrews’ lined her first triple of the year down the right field line to score pinch-runner Sara Kate Booker from first.
NSU returns to action on Friday against Gardner-Webb at 12 p.m. to start the Jacksonville State Tournament in Jacksonville, Ala.
