NATCHITOCHES – Members of the Northwestern State softball team gathered to speak in the Stroud room of the NSU campus on Tuesday about their upcoming trip to the 2013 NCAA Regional Tournament in Baton Rouge, hosted by LSU, which is set to begin on Friday as the Lady Demons square off with Louisiana Lafayette at three o'clock at Tiger Park.
 
“After having quite a few of our players named All-Conference, we're really confident that we're entering Friday's game as prepared as we can be,” said fifth year head coach Donald Pickett. “Two of our strongest pitcher's were named second team All-Conference, which means a lot, so we're prepared to just throw our pitches and play our game.”
 
The Lady Demons (40-13) defeated Southland Conference foe Sam Houston State in a 5-4 thriller on Saturday to earn the program's fourth conference tournament crown, and a first for Pickett.
 
We're really excited since we've never had the chance to be in the NCAA tournament, and the chance to do it together, as a team, is something that means a lot to all of us,” said second baseman Cali Burke. “We've played at Tiger Park before, so it's a place and an atmosphere that we've already experienced, so it will be exciting to be back there again.”
 
Burke notched the game-winning RBIs in Saturday's title game to give the Lady Demons their first conference tournament championship since 2002.
 
“We're working hard every day, both before and after practice, to get better and bring our A-game this weekend,” said sophomore Cassandra Barefield. “As a team, every single one of us works hard every day to constantly keep improving.”
 
Barefield, registered as the clean-up hitter and the designated player, and leads the team with 14 homers this season.
 
“From day one we said as a team that the only way we were going to be successful is if we play as a team, which is what we have been doing every single day,” said junior Tara McKenney. “Even when it comes down to the last inning of the ball game, nobody carries on the pressure because we know the girl behind us is going to take care of it.”
 
NSU appears in the double-elimination tournament as the No. 3 seed behind first-seeded LSU, second-seeded Louisiana Lafayette No. 4 Central Connecticut.