By Brad Welborn, Northwestern State Assistant Sports Information Director; featured photo by Brad Welborn
THIBODAUX – For the first time this season Northwestern State earned a split in a conference doubleheader, responding with a 5-1 win in game two after suffering a 3-2 loss in walk-off fashion in game one.
The Demons (6-40, 3-20) took first-inning leads in both games of the day and led the hot Colonels (27-21, 16-7) for 12 of the 14 innings played on the day. Runs in each of the final three innings of game one for the Colonels extended their winning streak to 16 straight, but a four-RBI game from DJ Lynch and two-hit dominance from Brooklynn Stohler brought the long streak to a screeching halt in game two.
“It was a quick message between games,” head coach Jenny Fuller said. “I told them it looked like Nicholls wanted it more than they did. I was pleased with the response they showed from that. We came out and scored four runs in the first inning and that was enough for Brookylnn.”
The Demons and Colonels finish the quick three-game set with a 1 p.m. first pitch on Good Friday as NSU seeks its first series win of the season.
Game One – Nicholls 3, NSU 2
The Demons needed just three batters to take the lead in the first inning of game one. Aly Delafield drew a walk to start the game and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Sophia Livers. DJ Lynch, the Demons’ leading RBI batter, drove a ball into the right center gap for her team-leading 10th double of the year to give NSU a quick 1-0 lead.
NSU used a similar formula to pick up a run in the second after Bailie Ragsdale singled up the middle to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ary Garcia Santana. Ragsdale moved to third on a wild pitch and trotted home on a flare single over short from Thibodaux native Camryn Becnel.
Another hit in the third gave the Demons four off of Nicholls starter and reigning pitcher of the week Molly Yoo, enough to chase her from the game after 2 1/3 innings of work. The Demons however, were unable to adjust to reliever Averi Paden who surrendered just three hits the rest of the game, all singles, and did not allow a runner past second base.
Despite the NSU bats falling silent after the second inning, the Demons held their lead through the first five innings thanks to another quality start from Kaymie Chandler.
The freshman put up four straight scoreless innings allowing just two hits during that time. A pair of two-out hits in the fifth, plus an error in right field on the second one, led to the Colonels’ first run of the game, an unearned variety that cut the lead in half at 2-1.
Nicholls flirted with two-out damage throughout the game, having five batters reach base with two outs through the first five innings of the game. Their persistence with one out remaining paid off in the final stages.
A two-out double in the sixth scored the tying run, who reached on a walk, in the sixth. A two-out double put the winning run on second in the seventh leading to Erin Krause’s, Nicholls’ hottest hitter, walk-off single to center to hand the Demons their 12th conference loss this season by two runs or less.
Game Two – NSU 5, Nicholls 1
The Demons needed just three batters to get on the scoreboard in the first game, and matched that in a big way to start the second game.
Aly Delafield and Bailie Ragsdale both picked up the first of their multiple hits in the game to start things off, seeing just three pitches between them. On the third pitch that DJ Lynch saw, she launched her second home run of the season over the left field wall to give the Demons a quick 3-0 lead.
A Brynn Daniel double two pitches later gave the Demons four hits by the first four batters and for the second straight time chased a Nicholls starting pitcher early. Daniel came in to score thanks to a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt making it a 4-0 game before Brooklynn Stohler ever set foot on the field.
“Whenever we’re up like that it just lets me relax and trust my stuff,” Stohler said. “I know that my team has my back and I can just play more relaxed.”
The ever-stoic Stohler leaned into the four-run lead and delivered one of her signature performances of the season over the next seven innings.
The only blemish in the game for the freshman was a ground-rule double that hoped over the fence in left to score the runner from second on the play. It was the first of two hits allowed by Stohler in the game, the other a leadoff bunt single in the fourth.
She induced 15 fly ball outs, in typical Stohler fashion, allowing her defense to operate behind her to hold a Nicholls offense that was averaging more than 11 hits per game during their long winning streak to the fewest in a conference game this year.
Only the Ole Miss and Tennessee pitching staff have held Nicholls to two hits or fewer in a game this season.
It was the first two-hitter for a Demon pitcher against a conference opponent since Maggie Darr two-hit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 2023.
“I was a pitcher so I know what she goes through and I know how hard it is,” Fuller said. “When your team has your back like that you want to go out there have your offense’s back. Nicholls is a really good team. They were riding a 16-game winning streak going into that game so really proud of her for bearing down there.”
With Stohler cruising in the circle, the Demon bats put together their biggest offensive night of the season picking up a season-high 12 hits in the game.
Aly Delafield finished a home run shy of the cycle as she and Riley Schwisow each collected three hits in the game. Four of the top five batters in the order had multi-hit games with the first five in the lineup combining to go 11-for-17 in the game.
The Demons have at least two hits in five of the seven innings of the game, but failed to extend their lead beyond the 4-1 advantage until their final at-bat.
Delafield’s triple to right center to open the inning, set up DJ Lynch’s fourth RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to deep center, stretching the NSU lead to 5-1.
Lynch collected five RBI on the day, adding to her team lead in the category with 25 on the year. She drove in five of NSU’s seven runs across both games.