NATCHITOCHES – As good as the defending Southland Conference champion Northwestern State softball team played during its 15-5 start, the Lady Demons discovered what could happen when they lose their focus.
 
NSU dropped two of three games at Incarnate Word this past weekend, albeit after three days of historic flooding and disrupted routine before hitting the road for their longest conference road trip of the season in San Antonio, Texas.
 
Now the Lady Demons (16-7, 1-2 SLC) return home to host a hot Louisiana Tech (15-5) team Wednesday at 6 p.m. before getting another crack in SLC play with a three-game home series against Houston Baptist starting Friday.
 
"I hope it's a wake-up call," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "We understand that we have to go out every weekend and prove ourselves.
"I think we got caught up a little bit in everything that happened last week and not having the focus that we needed to have. We've got to bounce back from it, and we had a good practice Monday. All you can do is go back to work and work on some fundamentals that we didn't execute at UIW."
 
The Lady Techsters' 15-5 start before hosting LSU on Tuesday is their best beginning since 1994. NSU won the last four in a series that Tech leads 51-45 overall, but Pickett knows that this isn't the same team in coach Mark Montgomery's fourth season.
 
Senior Anna Cross leads a solid offense with 24 RBIs, seven home runs and 23 runs scored.
 
"This is a really talented team, and this year's teams is one of the best if not the best (Tech) has had since I've been here," said Pickett, who is in his eighth season.
 
Against three common opponents (Abilene Christian, Texas State and Liberty), NSU is 3-1 and Tech is 2-2. Both teams beat Texas State, who is currently receiving votes in the national polls, and the Lady Demons add a win over RV Mississippi State.
 
NSU's 15-5 start in non-conference play is its second-best under Pickett and tied for third-best in program history.
 
Junior Kellye Kincannon, who moved into the leadoff spot for the last seven games, has been a huge spark with her .425 batting average, 20 RBIs, six home runs and 18 runs scored.
 
Senior Natalie Landry (10 hits in last five games) and sophomore Kaytie Proctor (five hits, three RBIs at UIW) have come to life recently after previous slumps.

"The lineup changes have made a difference … but we're leaving too many runners on base," Pickett said. "We hit well at times this weekend (against UIW), but we aren't consistently getting quality at-bats, which is something we pride ourselves on.
 
"You usually can't make nine errors in two games and win, but we would have if we had more quality at-bats. We would have scored more runs, and the errors wouldn't have come into play. We knew that with just one inside practice this past week, we wouldn't be perfect on defense."
 
NSU has generally been consistent in the circle behind the arms of junior Shelby Sells (5-4, 2.28 ERA) and sophomore Micaela Bouvier (9-3, 2.41 ERA).
 
Although eight of 13 UIW runs being unearned doesn't help, Pickett said the pair need to be better as well.
 
"They definitely have done some really good things this year, but this weekend wasn't one of their better outings, and they know that," Pickett said. "We've got to have consistency in the circle, and when they are, we have a good chance to win.
 
"We hope to bounce back against quality teams this week."