NATCHITOCHES – Sophomore Julie Rawls quickly found the broom in the locker room Saturday, waving it around after Northwestern State swept Lamar with a 7-0 win in the series finale.

Pitchers Micaela Bouvier and Mikayla Brown combined on the shutout, while NSU took advantage of Lamar mistakes to prompt the broom parade.

NSU (15-7, 3-0 Southland Conference) returned the favor against Lamar (11-12, 0-3 SLC), who swept the Lady Demons in four meetings in 2017 and had won six of the last seven in the series.

The sweep is NSU's first since late 2015 when the Lady Demons accomplished the feat against Stephen F. Austin.

"It's very tough in this conference to get a sweep, it's a very competitive conference," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "This sets the tone for conference play.

"We got good pitching, and we didn't set the world on fire on offense. But we were able to take advantage of a couple of (Lamar) mistakes. It's really hard to come out today after two games (Friday), but we were ready and able to take advantage of their early mistakes."

Bouvier (7-1) pitched four innings of no-hit softball before Brown closed out the final three innings with three hits allowed.

For Bouvier, she's won her last five outings and lowered her season ERA to 1.81.

On Saturday, eight of her 12 outs were fly outs (mostly shallow), including five of the first six outs. She worked around an error and a walk.

"We've all been working really hard, and it's just taking what you practice during the week and staying  calm and collected," Bouvier said. "(The sweep) is a great feeling, and it's great to see the hard work pay off."

NSU struck for four runs in the third inning to break the finale open.

The Lady Demons recorded just one hit in that frame, but NSU took advantage of two walks, one base runner via a strike three wild pitch and two fielder's choices that resulted in no outs.

Freshman Cayla Jones supplied the first RBI on a fielder's choice, resulting in Jones providing the go-ahead RBI in all three wins this weekend.

Julie Rawls drew a bases-loaded walk before Hayley Barbazon knocked in two more runs with an RBI single for a 4-0 edge.

"I've been hitting it right at people, so I knew I had to change something," Barbazon said. "I scooted up in the box, and stood more straight up instead of bending down.

"I hit it right up the middle, and I'm starting to get my stuff together. I trust everyone who's up in the lineup, and we trust each other, and it's working."

Jones (2-for-3, 4 RBIs) put an exclamation mark on NSU's sixth straight win when she walloped a three-run home run in the sixth inning.

Jones' home run came after singles by Hebert and Sidney Salmans. It's her second of the series and fifth of the season.

Lamar pitcher Laura Napoli (4-7) gets the loss after four runs on just one hit in 2 1-3 innings.

NSU returns to action this coming weekend when they head to Abilene Christian for a three-game series. The Wildcats (8-12, 2-1 SLC) won a pair of games at Southeastern in the opening weekend.