NATCHITOCHES – Rolling on three consecutive Southland Conference series wins, the Northwestern State softball team hosts Southeastern Louisiana in its regular-season series finale beginning on Saturday at two o'clock at the Lady Demon Diamond.
 
The first and third games of the series will be broadcast on 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches and streamed on nsudemons.com.
 
The Lady Demons (24-20 overall, 12-10 SLC) currently sit at third in the league standings behind Sam Houston State and leader McNeese State. Southeastern (19-25, 10-14) ranks 10^th in the Southland.
 
Following this weekend's games, Northwestern State has potential for a number of seedings at next week's Southland Conference Tournament, which, hosted by the Lady Lions, starts on Thursday at North Oak Park in Hammond. The Lady Demons have the opportunity to finish as high as the No. 2 seed with a sweep of SLU.
 
NSU went 3-1 last week with a pair of wins at Nicholls and a non-conference victory over Louisiana Tech.
 
The Lady Lions wrapped up their regular-season home schedule on Wednesday with an 11-3 loss to No. 25 LSU, and went 1-2 against the Cowgirls last weekend, dropping five of their last 10 contests.
 
Leading their closest league competitor (Lamar) by more than 10 home runs, the Lady Demons have sent 55 rockets over the fence this season to rank 10^th in the nation in home runs per game (1.25). Junior designated player Cassandra Barefield leads with 13, followed by freshman-on-the-rise and last week's Southland Hitter of the Week and LSWA Player of the Week, Kellye Kincannon, with nine.
 
Senior Tara McKenney boasts a team-high .369 average and 55 hits to sit just ahead of Brittany Virgoe at .350 and 50 hits, including 10 doubles, six homers and 25 RBI.
 
Senior Kaylee Guidry (9-3) and sophomore Baylee Gray (5-5) register 3.20 and 3.41 ERA, respectively, to steer NSU from the circle. Guidry has hauled 74.1 innings while allowing 71 hits and 37 runs, 34 of them earned. Gray picked up all three wins for the team last week to earn Southland Pitcher of the Week.
 
Katie Lacour leads SLU from the plate with a .400 average with 56 hits. Megan Moore records a team-high 37 RBI after cranking out nine homers and five doubles in 37 hits for a .289 mark. Spencer Adkinson (6-8) registers a 3.40 ERA to steer from the rubber. Her 80.1 innings include 94 hits and 52 runs, 39 of them earned. Taylor Bishop (7-8) follows behind with a 3.99 ERA and 108 hits and 62 runs in 93 complete innings. 
 
Sunday's finale, slated to start at noon, also marks senior day for six members of the NSU squad. Shenequia Abby, Cali Burke, Cheyenne DelaGarza, McKenney, Brianna Rodriguez and Guidry will be honored for their hard work and dedication to the program after the game. Each one of them played a vital role in the program's turn around throughout the Donald Pickett era, including last season's Southland Conference Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth.