BATON ROUGE – After competing in LSU's Purple and Gold Challenge on Friday and Saturday, Northwestern State softball makes a quick U-turn back to Baton Rouge to face the No. 7 Tigers on Tuesday at six o'clock.

Over the weekend, the Lady Demons (9-11) went 1-3, with the lone victory coming in a ferocious, 11-10 comeback win against Ball State on Saturday. After trailing 10-4 heading into the sixth inning, a six-run frame tied the game before Cassandra Barefield delivered a two-out RBI single in the seventh to win it.

"We had gotten out to a big lead and had it got away from us," seventh-year head coach Donald Pickett said. "We kept saying, 'we need to win every inning.' Let's just win every inning and see what happens. We were able to get a couple runners on and Brittany (Virgoe) was able to get a big hit for us. Once we got that, you could tell we were locked in."

The win was also Pickett's 162^nd at the helm of NSU, moving the skipper into second place in program history in victories.

The finale was not as kind to NSU, who fell 15-1 to No. 7 LSU (21-0) in five innings. The Lady Demons recorded just two hits, both coming in the fourth inning, and allowed the Tigers to score 12 runs in the first two frames.

"They are a very talented team," Pickett said. "We know we've got to play our best ball to be able to be competitive in the game. That's what we're looking to do. Go in there and make the plays we need to make; do the best we can; play our style of ball and see what happens. If we play good ball and make them earn everything they get, I think we'll be in the game."

Northwestern State continued its early season surge offensively, tallying 34 runs in its last four games. NSU is hitting .291 as a team and leads the Southland Conference in runs (104), hits (153), doubles (37), home runs (21) and RBIs (99).

"We've got a lot of talented hitters," Pickett said. "We had a lot of returners back from last year and we have lot of experience of that side of the ball. Experience and talent are two good things to have. Hopefully they can continue to do that and build on it. They're starting to relax and have good approaches. When they have good approaches, we're usually able to score some runs."

Individually, several NSU players find themselves at or near the top of the league standings, including Brittany Virgoe who ranks first with 18 runs scored. The Anaheim, Calif., product hit .466 over the weekend and notched her third and fourth home runs of the season while driving in five runs.

Sophomore Kellye Kincannon took over the team lead in batting average, now sitting at .371. She is the team leader in hits (23), home runs (6) and RBIs (20).

Tuesday's meeting with LSU will be the 31^st all-time with the Tigers holding a 28-2 advantage since play began in 1979. LSU is led by A.J. Andrews, who has posted an impressive team-leading .531 batting average and seven triples. The senior outfielder is the reigning Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, giving the Tigers their third straight weekly award winner.

NSU opens Southland Conference play on Friday, when the squad welcomes Incarnate Word to the Lady Demon Diamond for a three-game slate. The Friday doubleheader begins at three o'clock with the Saturday finale at 1 p.m.