RUSTON – The Northwestern State softball team would like to build momentum Tuesday heading into a key Southland Conference weekend series as well as avenge an earlier loss.

The Lady Demons head to Louisiana Tech for a Tuesday evening contest, hoping to return a favor after the Lady Techsters won 4-3 on March 16 in Natchitoches.

"Everybody got to see how competitive they are and how good of a team they have," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "Hopefully we can play good ball and finish out the game – they bit us the last time we played here.

"We want to get off to a fast start, stay in the game and finish it out in the end. We've got to figure out what we need to do win, and it'll depend on the matchup in the circle. We want to get a lot of kids reps in the midweek to prepare for the weekend."

NSU (22-16) is attempting to recover from a three-game sweep by Central Arkansas this past weekend.

The offense had been relatively consistent before the UCA series, but NSU bats delivered just two total runs in losses of 5-1, 6-0 and 5-1. NSU had scored four or more runs in 12 of the last 14 games.

NSU won the 2015 Southland Conference regular-season crown with a 22-3 league record, but the Lady Demons are in seventh place with a 6-9 mark this season. NSU hadn't been swept in a three-game conference series since early March of 2011 by Texas-San Antonio.

The Lady Techsters won their first Conference USA series of the season this past weekend by taking two of three from UAB.

In Tech's earlier 4-3 win this season, the Lady Techsters scored three sixth-inning runs to erase a two-run NSU lead. Krysta Tutsch doubled in a run and later scored the go-ahead run on a Karlee Jensen RBI-single.

Senior Anna Cross leads Tech's lineup with a .410 batting average with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs.

Junior Kellye Kincannon similarly leads NSU's offense with a .410 batting average with 10 home runs and 31 RBIs.

Louisiana Tech leads the all-time series 52-45.

After Tuesday's matchup, NSU returns home to host SLC-leading McNeese State (28-9, 13-2).