Winning a conference series on the road is never easy. On Friday, the Northwestern State softball team met those challenges head-on, delivering in key moments to secure its second Southland Conference road series win of the season.
After Stephen F. Austin (22-18 overall, 6-9 SLC) used a pair of four-run innings to take an 8-5 win in the opener, the Lady Demons (20-19, 9-6) turned to ace Mattison Buster in the finale.
She delivered again.
Buster tossed her third complete game of the week and second shutout of the series, while the Demons broke things open late in a 6-0 series-clinching victory. The win was Buster’s 17th of the season tying her with Kylie Roos for the most by a Demon pitcher since 2013.
“We talk a lot about handling adversity, and I think we did that really well this weekend,” head coach Jenny Fuller said. “With time changes, game changes, weather delays, they were super adaptable and flexible. I couldn’t be more proud. We talk about taking baby steps as a program in the right direction, but this feels like a big step.”
Including the 2-0 victory Thursday in the first game of the series, Northwestern has won six of its last seven games heading into a homefield SLC series next Friday and Saturday against UIW.
In the opener of Friday’s doubleheader, Northwestern threatened early, putting two aboard in the first via hit batters but failing to capitalize. The Demons stranded two more in the fourth after back-to-back hits from Brynn Daniel and Aly Delafield.
Those missed chances proved costly.
SFA strung together four straight one-out hits in the bottom of the fourth to score two runs. An RBI groundout and another hit extended the inning and gave the Lumberjacks a 4-0 lead.
NSU answered in the fifth. JT Smith was hit by a pitch and McKenna Rinewalt followed with an RBI triple down the right-field line. Peyton Young added a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-2.
SFA responded immediately with a four-run outburst and held off a late push from the visitors to win Friday’s first game and square the series at 1-1.
The rubber game Friday afternoon looked much like the opener, as Buster and SFA’s Crimson Bryant controlled the early innings of the finale, this time with little traffic on the bases.
Neither team mounted a serious threat through four innings. The breakthrough came in the fifth.
After a leadoff walk to Britt Bourgoyne and two quick outs, the Demons strung together three consecutive hits. Peyton Young started the rally with an RBI single to right, Brynn Daniel followed with an infield single, and Aly Delafield delivered another run-scoring hit for a 2-0 lead.
“As hitters, we were trying not to do too much, but that wasn’t really working,” Young said. “So we adjusted and stuck to it. Buster was dealing every inning, so we wanted to get it done for her.”
Buster faced her toughest test in the sixth when SFA loaded the bases with no outs. After a brief visit from Fuller, the Demons turned the defining play of the game.
A line drive to shortstop was snagged by Young, and she quickly flipped to Bourgoyne at second for a force out, erasing two runners and shifting the momentum.
“That was huge for us,” Young said. “That’s an uncomfortable situation, bases loaded, no outs, up by two. To flip the momentum like that gave us a lot of energy.”
Buster followed with a groundout to escape the jam and preserve the shutout.
“If Peyton doesn’t make that play, who knows how it turns out,” Fuller said. “That was a huge moment, and Buster did the rest to finish the inning.
The momentum carried into the seventh when NSU plated four runs and took command. Young delivered her second RBI single of the game, and after a pair of sacrifices plated another run, Makynlie Jones and Sister Arnold added back-to-back doubles to extend the lead to 6-0.
Buster secured her second shutout of the weekend, scattering seven hits with two strikeouts and two walks. She induced 10 fly-ball outs and eight groundouts, nearly mirroring her performance from Friday.
