Box Score HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A handful or missed chances at the plate and in the field cost Northwestern State its first game of the season in a 7-4 loss to Delaware at the Bearkat Classic.
 
The Lady Demons (1-1) committed five errors on the day and left 11 runners on base against an aggressive Delaware offense that totaled 13 hits on the day.
 
"We didn't play as clean a game today as we did yesterday," head coach Donald Pickett said. "We made some mistakes against a good hitting team and complicated things by not making some plays on defense and let some innings go a little long. It's early and those mistakes happen so we have to learn from them, move on and hopefully we'll be better tomorrow."
 
The Blue Hens scored in each of the first two innings thanks to a pair of one-out doubles in each frame. The Demons however had an answer for both run-scoring extra-base hits in the bottom halves of the first two innings.
 
The first three batters of the game for NSU reached based after a Bailie Ragsdale leadoff walk and back-to-back doubles from Laney Roos and Keely Dubois, the second of which brought in two runs and put the Demons up 2-1 after the first inning.
 
Another leadoff walk in the second, this time from Nani Winger, set the stage for Roos' second hit of the game, a single to right, that scored Winger from second and answered Delaware's run in the top half of the inning.
 
Keely Dubois was hit by a pitch after the RBI single to load the bases, but the Demons missed the chance to add to the lead with just one out succumbing to a strikeout and fly to right to end the threat.
 
Roos' third hit of the day opened the fourth inning and an Ashlyn Walker double four batters later brought her in to score giving the Demons a 4-2 advantage.
 
The preseason first-team all-conference outfielder finished the day 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, an RBI and scored two runs. After seven hits in the game on Friday, NSU added nine against Delaware.
 
"We're doing a lot of good things offensively and looking like an experienced and deeper lineup," Pickett said. "We were able to put some runs on the board and had the opportunity to put up some more and just didn't get it done."
 
The Blue Hens got one run back in the fifth on a bases loaded walk, but Maggie Darr escaped any more damage with a strikeout and fly ball to center to end the inning. NSU was not as lucky in the sixth.
 
Three straight batters reached after a strikeout to start the inning, and Delaware scored two runs on two straight fielder's choice plays that only produced one out. A two-out single scored the third run of the inning giving the Blue Hens the late 6-4 lead.
 
The Demons got runners on each of their final two plate appearances, including the first triple of Winger's career in the seventh, but could not muster any more or the magic from the day before.