BATON ROUGE – After defeating Southern twice at the NSU Lady Demon Invitational, the softball team will travel to Baton Rouge for a two-game rematch on Wednesday in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. at Lady Jaguar Field.

 

The Lady Demons (8-13) were swinging hot bats in the 10-5 victory over Southern (3-11) on Saturday, and garnered a strong pitching performance from Kylie Roos to shut the Jaguars down 4-0 on Sunday. NSU went on to become co-tournament champions at the NSU tournament, finishing with a 3-1 record.

 

The Lady Demons have won five of their last six games and are playing their best ball so far this season. NSU started its hot streak last Wednesday when it swept Houston Baptist in a doubleheader, 4-3 and 3-1.

 

Cassandra Barefield popped three homers and hit at a .500 mark over the six-game stretch to win Southland Conference Hitter of the Week on Monday. On the year, Barefield leads the team with a .357 batting average, 13 RBI and a .571 slugging mark.

 

Brianna Rodriguez nearly matched her, as she finished the NSU tournament with two homers, five runs scored and a .545 batting average. Rodriguez enters the doubleheader on a seven-game hitting streak, while Barefield has knocked hits in six consecutive games.

 

Cali Burke has also caught fire for the Lady Demons and has reached base safely in all of the last seven games. The Preseason First-Team All-SLC selection is hitting at a .636 mark over the last six games, including four doubles and five RBI. Burke leads the team with a .429 on-base percentage on the season.

 

On the mound, Roos and Kelee Grimes combined for 38 strikeouts in 28.1 innings last week, allowing just six earned runs in seven appearances. As a staff, the Lady Demons have racked up 147 strikeouts on the year, the most of any team in the SLC.

 

The doubleheader will be NSU's final tune-up before conference play, as the team will play two games over the weekend against Sam Houston State to kick-off the SLC schedule.

 

Notes – Active Lady Demon Hitting Streaks:

Brianna Rodriguez - 7

Cassandra Barefield – 6

Blair Beard – 2

Shenequia Abby – 1

Cheyenne DeLaGarza – 1

Brittany Virgoe – 1