By Brad Welborn, Northwestern State Assistant Sports Information Director; featured photo by Brad Welborn
MOBILE, Ala. – A walk-off single and a strong pitching performance led to a pair of losses for Northwestern State on the opening day of the 2025 softball season.
A handful of missed chances in the opener against Murray State kept the door open for the eventual game-winning single to left in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 final. The Demons were then held hitless by UAB pitcher Tait Davidson in a 7-0 loss to the Blazers.
“I think we had moments where we had good signs and moments where our youth showed on the field,” head coach Jenny Fuller said. “But overall, we were able to take away some wins from both games, as a team and as individuals. We saw some good stuff in the circle today and so the focus now is to get our bats going.”
NSU’s first hit of the season turned into its first run in the top of the second against Murray State.
Brynn Daniel, one of five true freshmen that started the first game of the season, laced a double into the left center gap for her first career hit to open the second inning. A pair of wild pitches later and Daniel dove headfirst into home to give the Demons their first run of the season and a 1-0 lead in the game.
The Racers didn’t pick up their first hit of the season until the fourth inning thanks to impeccable work in the circle from freshman Brooklynn Stohler, also making her first career start.
The righty from Pryor, Okla., retired the first nine batters she faced with a pair of strikeouts before surrendering her first hit and baserunner of the season to start the bottom of the fourth. Like the Demons, the Racers were able to turn their first hit into a run as well.
With two out and the runner now at third base, a ground ball to second was mishandled extending the inning and tying the game at one.
The hit and unearned run were all that Stohler allowed through five innings, only allowing one more hit through six full innings of work.
“I’m really proud of her,” Fuller said of her freshman pitcher. “She doesn’t let a moment get too big. She just goes out there, does what she does and I think she’s going to keep us in games all year long.”
The Demons had two chances to potentially give Stohler her first win what was their final two at bats. After a Sophia Livers double and Bailie Ragsdale infield single, the Demons had the bases loaded with just one out in the sixth inning. The key hit did not come as the next two batters popped out and struck out to end the inning.
In the seventh the Demons got two on with one out but a sharply hit ball right to the third baseman led to an inning-ending double play to squash the potential go-ahead rally.
A leadoff single for the Racers in the seventh set up the pinch-hit, walk-off single to left field as the pinch runner Summer Ray came around from second to slide in under the tag of Savannah Coleman to win the game.
In the second game of the day the NSU bats struggled to diagnose UAB’s Tait Davidson, working just two baserunners for the game – a hit by pitch from Ary Garcia Santana and a walk from Riley Schwisow.
The Blazers used their speed and gap power to the tune of three triples and four stolen bases to create runs in all but two innings. With a 1-0 lead after the first inning, UAB’a Hannah Miles hit the first of her two triples on the day into the right center gap, scoring one run and setting up an RBI-groundout for another. She scored on another RBI groundout in the fourth after her second three-bagger to give the Blazers a 4-0 lead.
UAB tacked on three more in the fifth but reliever Aly Delafield tossed a scoreless sixth, leaving the game-ending run at third with a four-pitch strikeout.
The Demons return to action on Saturday at the South Alabama Invitational with a 11:30 a.m. rematch with Murray State before a 4:30 p.m. date with host South Alabama. That game against the Jaguars can be seen on ESPN+.