NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State softball team will host Southland Conference foe Central Arkansas on Saturday for a three game series beginning on Saturday at four o'clock at the Lady Demon Diamond.
 
The Lady Demons (26-8 overall, 7-4 SLC) split a pair of games with the Sugar Bears (23-12, 6-5 SLC) in the 2012 season.
 
Ranked second in the current SLC poll, the Lady Demons put in a team effort last weekend to grab two games and a series win from Lamar, including a home run frenzy by Brittany Virgoe, Cassandra Barefield and Natalie Landry.
 
After a 40-minutes rain delay in the middle of the fourth, Virgoe took it upon herself to break the 1-1 tie with her first homer of the day.
 
Barefield followed suit in the fifth as she picked up her 10^th home run of the season as she led off with a shot to left field. She currently leads the Southland in homers.

The sixth inning proved to be a huge one, starting with Tara McKenney singling to the pitcher to bring up Virgoe, who wasted no time putting another homer over the left field wall, her seventh of the season.

The Anaheim, Calif. product is currently setting a career-best in home runs as she was unable to put any over the fence in the 2012 season.

Virgoe currently leads the SLC in total bases with 77, just two ahead of Sam Houston's Tori Benavidez.

With runners on second and third, Landry stepped up to take her turn at a homer, sending a straight shot to center field for her fourth home run of the season, giving the
Lady Demons an 8-1 advantage.

The Lady Cardinals put up a fight in the seventh and grabbed one run off of a string of walks, but were unable to combat the seven-run deficit put up by NSU.

McKenney posts 49 hits this season, just three behind Benavidez. 

Junior Brianna Rodriguez posts a career-high 14 doubles on the season to lead the Southland, and .41 doubles per game to rank 13^th nationally.

From the circle, Kylie Roos and Kaylee Guidry stand tall, each posting an 8-2 record.
 
Roos threw 10 solid innings in the series opener with the Lady Cardinals, allowing just 10 hits and five runs while striking out 10. The senior utility player leads the NSU pitching staff with a 1.45 ERA, which also ranks second in the SLC.  
 
Guidry allowed just one hit in four innings in Saturday's series finale with Lamar. The LSU-Eunice transfer currently posts a 1.68 ERA.
 
The Sugar Bears split a pair of games with McNeese State last weekend.
 
Senior Kelsie Armstrong leads Central Arkansas and the conference in strikeouts as she has shut down 178 batters in 142 solid innings. Armstrong poses a 2.07 ERA, allowing 62 runs, 42 of them earned, and 114 hits this season.
 
Lindsay Elliot leads from the plate with a .462 average, followed by Lissa Avitia posting a .417 average with 35 hits in 84 at-bats.
 
“This league has proven to be very competitive, and it will continue to be that way for the remainder of the season,” said head coach Donald Pickett. “Central Arkansas is a very good team and could pose a serious threat to the conference standings if they continue to play the way they have been this season.”  
 
The Lady Demons will host non-conference rival Louisiana Tech on Wednesday at six o'clock before traveling to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at 1:00 to resume Southland Conference play.