In seven innings, Missouri State pitchers Brylee Brewster and Emily Korando held the Demons hitless, going 0-for-19 with one strikeout. At the end of the game, they celebrated one of the strangest 5-3 victories you’ll ever see.
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All five of NSU’s runs were scored in the first inning. Brewster took the mound and couldn’t find the strike zone, walking the first three batters and hitting the fourth with a pitch. She was then replaced by Korando, who got the Bears’ first out on a fielder’s choice at home, but then walked two batters in a row and saw another score on an error.
NSU leadoff hitter JT Smith drew that first walk and explained after the game that getting Brewster into the strike zone was the team’s plan all along:
“We saw on film, watching earlier in the day, that she had some control issues if she didn’t hit it, which, as a leadoff hitter, it’s very important to see some pitches. Fortunately, I didn’t have to swing the bat. She gave me four balls. I’ll gladly take four balls, and (second hitter Sophia Livers) did the same thing behind me, and then (third hitter Sister Arnold) and (fourth hitter) Brynn Daniel). So I think it was just contagious. knowing what the people in front of you did and not trying to do too much in that situation.”
Northwestern State managed just four baserunners the rest of the game, with three walks and another hit by pitch. After struggles in the first inning, Koradis pitched six complete innings, while NSU’s Mattison Buster pitched a seven-inning complete game with six hits and three runs (two earned).
He got some help late, with a diving catch from right fielder Mckenna Rinewalt. If the ball had landed, it probably would have been a one-run game with the tying run at second base, or even third.
Northwestern State was well aware of how strange the game it had just won was.
For perspective, there are only six games in MLB history in which a team won despite going hitless, out of 326 no-hitters in league history.
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What makes the “achievement” even more incredible is that Northwestern State defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 14-0 the day before… without allowing a hit in five innings in a game that was called by the run rule.
So the program has won games without allowing a hit and recording zero hits on consecutive days.
Both games were part of the City of Lights Classic held at Northwestern State’s Lady Demon Diamond in Natchitoches, Louisiana. They also recorded a 6-1 loss to Missouri State on Friday and a 13-0 win over Pine Bluff in the second games of the Friday and Saturday doubleheader.