NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State softball concludes its five-game homestand on Wednesday when the program welcomes ULM to the Lady Demon Diamond at 5 o'clock.
The game will be 80's Movie Night and feature music, trivia and themed promotions centering on the decade.
Northwestern State (2-8) enters the midweek matchup following a 2-2 weekend at the NHDDC Lady Demon Classic, highlighted by a pair of five-inning wins versus Jackson State. NSU outscored the Tigers 20-2 while also dropping two matchups against tournament participant No. 9 Baylor.
"We're trying to get stronger as the game moves along and I think we did that," seventh-year head coach
Donald Pickett said. "Baylor is a great team and for us to continue to fight how we did to crawl back into it and extend the game, shows a lot of character."
ULM (9-1) is riding an eight-game win streak and is off to its best start since 2006. Last weekend, the Warhawks swept play at its Mardi Gras Classic, downing Alabama State, Southeast Missouri State and Grambling State. In its season opener, ULM took four of five at the Lady Techster Invitational including a 9-5 win against host Louisiana Tech.
"They definitely have things going in the right direction early in the season," Pickett said. "They are really scoring a lot of runs. We're going to have to come in here again and play our best game. They've got a lot of momentum built and we've got to start getting that built for us."
Wednesday's meeting will be current Lady Demon
Kayla Boening's first meeting against her former team. The senior played three seasons with the Warhawks, leading the squad in triples (3) and finishing third in walks (17) as a freshman. She hit .194 with 13 hits as a sophomore and .196 with four home runs as a junior.
With 116 meetings all-time, NSU has played the Warhawks more than any other non-conference foe. The Lady Demons hold a 61-55 advantage in the series that begin in 1980. The squads last met in 2013 with NSU taking a 4-2 win at the NHDDC Lady Demon Classic. In the victory, current seniors
Cassandra Barefield and
Brittany Virgoe each notched home runs.
Natalie Landry, who started just 13 games and hit .178 a season ago, leads the Lady Demons offensively. The junior ranks first on the team and sixth in the Southland Conference with a .480 batting average. Her four doubles are second on the team only to
Micayla Sorosiak and places her tied for second in the league.
"Natalie has done a great job," Pickett said. "Last year, things got away from her a little bit. She had a great freshman year. We challenged her to come back and be ready to go and be back to where she was as a freshman and she did. She's worked hard and competed all season long for a position and now we're getting the rewards from that."
Northwestern State hits the road again following Wednesday, beginning with five games in three days at the Jackson State Tournament. NSU opens play in Jackson, Miss., against Belmont at 12:00 p.m. on Friday.
