NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Good teams find ways to win games. The Northwestern State softball squad continues to make its case as being one of them.
In a pitcher’s duel Thursday night, the Demons (19-18 overall, 8-5 in the Southland Conference) capitalized on a pair of Stephen F. Austin (21-17, 5-8) errors and Britt Bourgoyne’s bat to score two runs, which was plenty of support for ace Mattison Buster, who tossed her fifth shutout of the season in a 2-0 win.
The Demons and Lumberjacks finish their series with a Good Friday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Only the first game of today’s pair will air on ESPN+.
“I feel like 2-0 wins aren’t as common these days, but when you have a pitcher like Buster in the circle, she can limit the runs and we scored enough to win,” head coach Jenny Fuller said.
With both teams’ aces squaring off in the series opener, runs figured to be at a premium and each side would need to take advantage of their run-scoring chances.
Both the Demons and Lumberjacks put multiple runners on base in the first and second innings, and both teams left runners stranded on bases in those innings.
The relentlessness of the Demons finally paid off in the top of the third, as they took advantage of a pair of SFA errors, another trait that all good teams share.
An error at second put Aly Delafield on with one out, and following a Sister Arnold single to right and error on the play, the Demons had runners at second and third with one out. Bourgoyne made the Jacks pay shooting the first pitch she saw into the left center gap bringing in both Delafield and Arnold for the game’s only runs.
The game turned in the span of four pitches.
“We scattered some hits tonight so we were getting contact on the ball,” Fuller said. “Britt was tired of getting out so she bore down and got the hit that proved to be the game winner. Really proud of her and how she played tonight. But the approach was hunt good pitches early and it paid off.”
From there, it is was Buster’s game.
She allowed just three total baserunners afterward on three base hits, coming in the fourth, sixth and seventh. Only one advanced past second base, but she was quickly left standing at third on a ground ball to second to end the sixth inning.
Buster completed her 14th complete game of the season to earn her 16th win, matching Mikayla Brown (2017) for the most wins by a Demon pitcher since 2013. With just two strikeouts in the game, Buster relied on her defense for the other 19 outs, getting a near perfect split with nine fly ball out and 10 groundouts.
“She wants the ball in those high-pressure moments, and I trust her with it,” Fuller said about Buster. “She trusts her defense and it all kind of works together. As the game goes on, she just gets stronger so when you have a pitcher like that you can beat anybody.”
