NATCHITOCHES -- For Northwestern State softball, the math of making the Southland Conference Tournament is easier than the task.
 
With arguably the hottest SLC team in Central Arkansas (22-31, 12-12 SLC) visiting Lady Demon Diamond for a weekend series, NSU (21-29, 11-13 SLC) would guarantee itself a spot in the six-team conference tournament with a series win.
 
Friday's opener starts at 5 p.m. with a Saturday doubleheader at noon. Saturday's first game will be broadcast on KZBK 100.7 FM with the second audio streamed on nsudemons.com. Play-by-play announcer Tony Taglavore has the call.
 
"We have to do the things we've been talking about all year long, and that's being as consistent and confident as we can be," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "Playing confidently is going to give ourselves the best chance we have at winning, and we have to be confident no matter what else is going on in the series.
 
"If we do that, then hopefully things go our way and we get two wins. If not, at least you knew you gave it your best shot. We want to play Demon softball this weekend."
 
The Lady Demons are tied for sixth place among tournament eligible teams with Sam Houston State (11-13 SLC), and NSU holds a tiebreaker over the Bearkats because of a better record against regular season champion McNeese.
 
Five teams  -- Southeastern (12-12 SLC), UCA, NSU, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin (9-12 SLC) -- are fighting for three remaining tournament spots.
 
Postseason paths exist even if NSU doesn't win the series against UCA.  NSU holds tiebreakers over Southeastern (won series), SHSU and SFA (better record vs. champion McNeese), so the Lady Demons can make the postseason by tying one of those teams and topping another.
 
Southeastern hosts McNeese, Sam Houston heads to Houston Baptist (8-16) and SFA travels to second-place Abilene Christian (17-7 SLC) this weekend.
 
Senior Kellye Kincannon doesn't want to think about all those possibilities. For a player who holds three NSU career records and is tied for another, winning the conference series assures her and the four other seniors can keep playing a game they love.
 
"It would mean everything to us," said Kincannon, who helped NSU to a 2014 SLC Tournament title and a 2015 SLC regular season crown before the Lady Demons missed the postseason in 2016. "We're blessed to have our final series at home, and we have to take care of business this weekend and come together as a team.
 
"It's another opportunity to play this game, and we want to have a little more time to play after this weekend."
 
Both NSU and UCA have won three of their last four series.
 
The Lady Demons topped Incarnate Word, Southeastern and second-place Nicholls before falling on the road 2-1 to Houston Baptist.

NSU avoided the sweep in the finale thanks to a Kincannon walk-off single in the 10^th inning Saturday.
 
"We were pretty down Friday after we didn't play well and lost two games," Pickett said. "We didn't play as well as we would have liked Saturday, but for us to stay in there and fight for 10 innings and get that win is huge.
 
"To be able to grind that out says a lot about this team."
 
Central Arkansas topped Abilene Christian 2-1 in its latest series after sweeping Southeastern, falling to Lamar and topping SFA.
 
The Bears swept NSU in Conway, Ark., in 2016 and knocked off the top-seeded Lady Demons in the 2015 SLC Tournament championship series.
 
"It absolutely means more," Jones said when asked about playing UCA in a series where both teams are fighting for a tournament spot.
 
Added Kincannon, "We had some heartbreaking encounters with them in my time here. We watched them proceed in the NCAA Tournament after they beat us on our home field. There is some emotion there."
 
All five seniors will be honored after Saturday's doubleheader.