NATCHITOCHES, La. — Concluding their first Southland Conference series in two years, Lamar University’s softball team made sure to end their matchup with Northwestern State University by winning their series.
Behind stellar pitching, clutch at-bats and defense, the Cardinals achieved all those feats by knocking off the Demons 6-1 to be 2-1 in conference play.
On a day LU recorded nine hits, the pair of Hayley Freudenberg and Brooke Davis each recorded two including a double with the latter picking up two RBI. Cameron Niedenthal would pick up her first homer of the year and three RBI while Sam Bean also drove in an RBI.
Aaliyah Ruiz earned her third win of the season with a complete game performance striking out two batters.
NSU would get the early run in the bottom of the first inning. In the second inning, a pair of walks to Mikaila Kenney and Nicolette Ramirez set up back-to-back RBI doubles by Davis and Bean for a 3-1 lead. While the Demons put two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the second, Ruiz overcame the obstacle to keep the two-run lead, which stood after three thanks to Ramirez making a couple of stellar defensive plays one inning later.
In the top of the fifth, LU nearly extended their lead as a deep fly ball to left field was caught just shy of the foul pole.
Since the second inning, Ruiz would retire 10 straight batters. But the streak ended as the Demons threatened in the sixth putting two runners on base. Fortunately, Ruiz escaped the trouble with a strikeout.
In the top of the seventh, the Cards put two on when Niedenthal delivered her first homer of the season icing the 6-1 win.
After 28 games away from their beloved LU Softball Complex, the Cardinals will finally make their home opener for a three-game series against Southeastern Louisiana.
The first two games will start at 3:00 p.m., Friday while Saturday will be a 12 p.m., start.
