NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State softball team begins Southland Conference play on Saturday as they travel to McNeese State for a three-game series. The first pitch is slated for two o'clock.

“We're excited about getting into conference play,” said head coach Donald Pickett. “This conference season is going to be very competitive, so we're anxious to see how it all plays out.”

The Lady Demons finished the pre-conference season on Tuesday as they improved to 18-3 in an 8-0 win over Southern University.

Senior Kylie Roos (6-0) picked up her third shutout in a row as she allowed just one hit and struck out seven of 14 batters faced. Roos leads from the circle with a 1.39 ERA, allowing 10 runs, nine of them earned, in 45.1 innings. 

Freshman Baylee Gray (1-0) threw the final inning allowing one hit also.

Brianna Rodriguez leads the Lady Demons from the plate with a .409 batting average and at the top of the conference in doubles with 13. 

The Cowgirls (16-7) went 4-1 at the Texas Tech Tournament last weekend, losing their only battle 3-2 to the host Red Raiders, but came back to win in extra innings over Texas Tech the following day.

Emily Vincent leads McNeese from the plate hitting .382. The freshman has stepped up to bat 55 times to produce 21 hits, including 28 RBI, four doubles and six home runs.

Jamie Allred (7-3) posts a 1.69 ERA from the circle, allowing 44 hits and 17 runs in 54 innings.

In the last meeting, the Cowgirls came out on top with two victories over the Lady Demons. Northwestern State leads the overall series 70-63.

On Monday, Roos and Rodriguez were named Louisiana Sports Writers Association Pitcher of the Week and Southland Conference Hitter of the Week, respectively. 

Roos threw a pair of shutouts last week over Alcorn State and Louisiana Tech to improve to 5-0 on the season. The Celina High School product allowed just five hits and struck out 17.

The victory over La Tech left the Lady Demons with a 17-3 overall record, the program's best all-time start in 20 games previously set in the 1990 season when NSU went 16-4.

Rodriguez recorded four multi-hit games to aid in the 5-1 performance last week, including a huge double in the fourth inning in the 6-0 win over Louisiana Tech Sunday afternoon. Rodriguez lead off in the inning with a double to center field, essentially kick-starting a scoring frenzy as the Lady Demons picked up four runs and sealed the win.

The Rowlett High School product grabbed eight RBI off of four doubles, two home runs and a triple, and crossed the plate five times as well.

Rodriguez went 10-19 at the plate, resulting in a .526 batting average on the week, putting her at the top of team with a .409 overall average.

The Lady Demons return home next weekend to host Nicholls State beginning on Saturday at one o'clock.