NATCHITOCHES, La. – A two-hit, two-RBI night from senior Alexis Cacioppo was not enough as the Warhawks fell 3-4 to Northwestern State at the Lady Demon Diamond.
The Warhawks (9-2) took an early lead in the first inning, but could not close the door on the Lady Demons (3-8) who used a fifth-inning rally to take the game.
Cacioppo went two-for-three with a first-inning, two-RBI triple, her first on the season. Junior Faith Bohack garnered her 11th RBI on the season with a sacrifice bunt.
Freshman Paige Porter made her sixth start on the year going 4.1 innings for the Warhawks with one strikeout. Senior Jessica Colliver closed the game and picked up her first loss on the season.
Sophomore Rochelle Roberts doubled to left center to open the game. Freshman Cheyanne Lyon reached first on a Lady Demon error to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Cacioppo knocked her first triple on the year and put ULM on the board first (2-0 ULM).
After redshirt senior Miyuki Navarrete reached on an error, Bohack laid down the sacrifice bunt to score Cacioppo (3-0 ULM).
The Lady Demons would answer in the bottom of the second with a leadoff homer from Cassandra Barefield (3-1 ULM). Northwestern State would put two runners on with one out following the homerun shot, but the Warhawk defense shut down any scoring chance.
After exchanging two scoreless innings, the Lady Demons would use two solo homeruns to tie the game 3-3 in the fifth inning.
With one out, a Lady Demon baserunner would reach with help of an ULM fielding error.
Colliver would answer with a strikeout, but a two-out single to left center would give Northwestern State a 3-4 lead that the Lady Demons would hold to secure the victory.
The Warhawks travel to Conway, Ark., on Friday, Feb. 20 to compete in a tournament hosted by Central Arkansas. ULM takes on Arkansas Pine Bluff at 3:45 p.m. on Friday to kick off the weekend.
For the latest on ULM softball, visit ULMWarhawks.com and follow the team on Twitter (@ULM_Softball) and Facebook (facebook.com/ULMSoftball).
