ABILENE, Texas -- Northwestern State rediscovered its power from the plate in Saturday's doubleheader as the Lady Demons snatched a pair of wins from Abilene Christian to take the series.

Julie Rawls had a career-high five RBIs as NSU jumped on ACU 9-1 in five innings.

Sidney Harris' three-run home run was plenty of support for Micaela Bouvier, who logged her first shutout of the season in a 4-0 win in the second game.

"Scoring early set the tone after getting in a funk (Friday), and credit (ACU pitcher Hannah Null) for keeping us off-balance," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "But we scored early in both games today, and that takes pressure off after we got some momentum at the end of Friday's loss.

"(Mikayla Brown) threw a great game to keep ACU down, and the hitters jumped on them early. Harris' one swing puts us up in Game 3, and Bouvier came back and had a great day after struggling in
Game 1."

NSU (17-8, 5-1 Southland Conference) is off to its best start in league play since 2015 (10-0) and best overall since 2013 (18-3).

The Lady Demons head to Ruston to face Louisiana Tech on Wednesday before returning to Natchitoches to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a weekend series.
 
NSU 9, ACU 1 (5)

Rawls delivered in two separate innings to produce two of NSUs 13 hits, its most in conference play since March 24 of 2017 against TAMU-CC (13 hits).

Already leading 1-0 with the bases loaded, Abilene Christian had a chance to end the threat as they turned a double play in the third inning.

But Rawls smacked a three-run home run to save the inning and give NSU a 4-0 lead. Rawls, who homered against Lamar this past weekend, hit her fourth home run of the season and fifth of her career.

"It meant a lot to start fast because we had to come out with a lot of energy," Rawls said. "We needed to carry it through all seven innings, and we did that today.

"I like to get my players pumped up, I've always been that way. I want others to feed off that."

Rawls struck again in the fourth inning when she doubled in two runs to push NSU's lead to 8-0. Rawls has 10 RBIs in the last seven games as her season total climbed to 15.

She scored Madelyn Matt and Sidney Salmans with her double.

Salmans singled to load the bases before Matt doubled in a pair of runs (6-0 lead). Salmans hadn't had a multi-hit game in eight contests, and the senior's three hits eclipsed her two total hits in that stretch.

"Sidney was big in the first game going 3-for-3," Pickett said. "She was on base every time, and that was big for her.

"If those upperclassmen come through, and they are very capable, then we will be getting strong all year long. These younger kids are bringing the energy, and now it's just about our kids playing up to their potential."

NSU started the scoring in the second inning when freshman Elyssa Hernandez doubled in pinch runner Kayla Roquemore for a 1-0 lead.

Hernandez has five career hits with three of those being doubles in West Texas (two at Texas Tech, one at Abilene Christian).

NSU's 13 hits was more than enough for pitcher Mikayla Brown.

Brown (6-2) surrendered one run in the fifth inning on a two-hitter. She needed just 61 pitches in five innings as Brown has won her two starts in conference play with just one total run allowed.

NSU supplied the eventual game-clinching run on a Salmans RBI single to score Toni Hebert.

The Lady Demons defense ended the game in the fifth inning on a 6-4-3 double play.

ACU freshman Calie Burris (1-4) takes the loss with two earned runs in two innings. Reliever Shelby Craig allowed the other seven runs on in the final three innings.

 NSU 4, ACU 0

Pitcher Micaela Bouvier recovered from a rough Game 1 outing Friday to toss her first conference shutout since 2016 (against Stephen F. Austin).

Bouvier allowed just three hits in the game, including not allowing a hit from the third through the fifth innings.

She faced slight pressure on the base paths from two walks and one hit batter, but the only real trouble came in the sixth inning.

Two walks sandwiched a double as ACU loaded the bases with just one out. But two fly balls ended the inning, and leftfielder Julie Rawls' arm deterred the Wildcats from attempting to score on the first fly ball.

Bouvier was supported by a Sidney Harris three-run home run in the third inning.

Madelyn Matt reached on an error and Cayla Jones walked before Harris' third blast of the season. NSU has six home runs in the first Southland Conference series to increase its total to 14 in the
season.

It came off ACU pitcher Hannah Null (8-7), who held NSU down in Game 1 for six innings before an NSU rally fell short in a 4-3 loss.

NSU collected seven hits off Null, who also walked three to go with seven strikeouts.

Hayley Barbazon collected three of those hits to tie a career high.

Rawls supplied a seventh-inning insurance run when she doubled in Cayla Jones, who scored two runs and reached base twice (two walks and a hit).