BATON ROUGE – Northwestern State will play its sixth game against a ranked opponent Tuesday when the Lady Demons visit No. 11 LSU for a Tuesday contest.
 
The 6 p.m. contest will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network, which includes 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches, by play-by-play announcer Tony Taglavore. 
 
NSU (18-25-1) is 0-5 against ranked opponents this season and hasn't beaten a ranked opponent since the record book started listing rankings in 2005, but the Lady Demons have been more than competitive against the nation's best.
 
NSU took then-No. 15 Baylor to extra innings in an eventual 3-1 loss in Natchitoches. The Lady Demons tied then-No. 1 Florida in the fifth inning before the Gators broke away to a 9-3 win. Then-No. 9 Oklahoma mustered one run through five innings before pulling out a 3-0 victory.
 
First baseman Brittney Jones, part of a senior class that's played LSU (32-12) four times in three seasons, said NSU won't be intimidated by luxurious Tiger Park or a Tigers team that's coming off consecutive Women's College World Series appearances.
 
"Playing LSU is refreshing by at the same time challenging," Jones said. "They're obviously a great team, but I love playing at LSU because it means we have nothing to lose.
 
"We can play all out. You don't see scared faces any more, at least with players that have played them before. We've seen these kids and know what they can do. It feels like we're this close (to beating a ranked team), and it's overwhelming to know that we were that close but then it makes you sick to know we could have won and we didn't."
 
NSU has beaten LSU twice in program history – both coming in the Lady Demons' inaugural season of 1979. The Lady Demons have been relatively competitive recently, losing 6-1 at LSU in 2016 and 5-3 in a 2014 home game. LSU's two other wins in that last three years came by scores of 15-1 and 11-0 – both in 2015.
 
Most national softball fans know LSU's Sahvanna Jaquish, who ranked fifth on the NCAA's active career leaders list with 53 home runs and second in RBIs with 249. 
 
But Northwestern State's Kellye Kincannon is also on those lists, checking in at seventh with 52 career home runs and ninth with 181 RBIs.
 
Kincannon homered in Tiger Park this past season.
 
NSU coach Donald Pickett said slowing down the game mentally will be a key to competing Tuesday.
 
"We have to go down there and not let the game get too fast for us," Pickett said. "We've got to focus on what we're trying to do to compete and not get wrapped up in what they're doing.
"We'll try to play the game the way we want to play it and see if we can give ourselves a chance to win in the end. It'll definitely be huge if we can pull one out."
 
Twelve Lady Demons have experienced Tiger Park before, but Watson native Ashton Priester will be one of 10 freshmen stepping into LSU's stadium for the first time.
 
Priester grew up in Baton Rouge and played high school softball at Live Oak.
 
"It's very exciting to go play in my home town, and I love going back," Priester said. "It's amazing that I'm going to have everybody there because it's hard to travel up to Natchitoches.
 
"I watched LSU play as a kid, and that's where I set my goal – to be a college softball player. I never really wanted to be a Tiger, but college softball was always the goal. I never expected to be where I am, but the hard work and dedication paid off. It's going to be very exciting to step on that field and know I belong there."
 
After the trip to LSU, NSU returns to Lady Demon Diamond to play Nicholls in a three-game series starting Friday. The Lady Demons have won three of their last four Southland Conference series.