HOUSTON, Texas – Reigning Southland Conference Softball Tournament champion Northwestern State kicks off league play on Saturday in a three-game series at Houston Baptist beginning at one o'clock at Husky Field.
 
Meeting just five times in program history, the Lady Demons (8-9 overall, 0-0 SLC) hold a 5-0 advantage over the Huskies (4-10, 0-0). NSU last made the trip to HBU in 2012, taking two games from the Huskies with final scores of 3-1 and 4-3. Last season, the Lady Demons took three straight in Natchitoches, outscoring HBU 16-2.
 
Northwestern State enters Saturday after dropping two contests in a row to top-25 teams, the first to No. 21 Tulsa 9-0, in five innings, at the Tulsa Invitational, and later to No. 24 LSU in a 5-3 battle in the "State of Purple" match up that featured two of Louisiana's three 2013 NCAA Tournament teams in Natchitoches for just the second time between the two programs.
 
The Lady Demons finished second in SLC regular season play in 2013 with an 18-7 record, registering as the highest finish, highest tournament seeding (2^nd) and most Southland wins since 2002.
 
Winning just four games so far this season, the Huskies suffered four losses in a row at the UTEP Tournament Feb. 21 and 22 and have not taken the field since.
 
Cassandra Barefield leads the Lady Demon offense with a .457 average. Her 21 hits include six homers, four of which in four straight games at the Frost Classic, and 17 RBI. Leadoff Tara McKenney sits behind Barefield with 18 hits, four of them doubles, for a .316 average.
 
Freshman Shelby Sells (2-3) has thrown a team-high 39.2 innings, striking out 43, allowing 35 hits and 25 runs, 16 of them earned. She leads the pitching staff with a 2.82 ERA.
 
Shay Orsak and Lauren Schwirtlich steer the Husky offense, registering 21 hits each while starting all 14 contests. Orsak boasts a team-high .447 average, followed by Schwirtlich at .420. From the circle, Emily Muelle (3-3) holds a 2.57 ERA in 30 complete innings, giving up 15 runs, 11 of them earned, and 32 hits, while striking out 18.
 
NSU returns home to host its first Southland series beginning Saturday March 15 at 2:00 with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Lady Demon Diamond.