BATON ROUGE – Facing ranked opponents in iconic ballparks is nothing new for Northwestern State softball, and the Lady Demons will get another dose Tuesday when they play No. 14 LSU at Tiger Park.

Both NSU (24-15) and LSU (32-10) would like to shake off sweeps at the hands of conference opponents and build momentum heading into their next league weekends.

The 6 p.m. game will be televised on SEC Network Plus and broadcast on the Demon Sports Network with play-by-play announcer Tony Taglavore calling the action.

The Lady Demons dropped three games to Southeastern this past weekend, including a pair of losses in which SLU took the lead in their final at-bat.

"We want to go down there and respond in the right way after this weekend," said NSU coach Donald Pickett, whose Lady Demons committed 10 errors which led to 11 unearned runs. 

"There were some things that caught up to us this past weekend and over the past couple weeks, and we definitely want to try to fix some of those."

Southeastern won the series finale 4-2 after both teams were scoreless in regulation, and the Lady Lions scored eight runs in the seventh inning of an 11-6 win in which NSU had a three-run lead.

LSU's three losses all came by two runs or less at No. 10 Tennessee. The Tigers have lost four straight after dropping the finale against Ole Miss, although LSU won the series.

NSU has played LSU five times in the last four seasons and four times in Baton Rouge. The Lady Demons have lost each of those meetings, but three of those losses were by five runs or less. 

NSU is 2-31 all-time against LSU with both of the Lady Demons' wins coming in its inaugural season in 1979.

The Lady Demons pressured LSU last year in a 5-2 loss, scoring a pair of runs and loading the bases in the sixth inning down 4-2.

"LSU has a great pitching staff and a lot of speed, and those will be things that will challenge us," Pickett said. "We want to make the plays to keep it close because we know runs will be hard to come by against one of the best pitching staffs in the country.

"We want to stay in the game and give ourselves a chance at the end."

If NSU loads the bases against LSU on Tuesday, it's been a team that's done damage with the bases jammed. Five of NSU's 27 home runs have been grand slams, and sophomore Julie Rawls hit her second when she handed NSU a 6-3 lead against
Southeastern on Saturday in what eventually became an 11-6 loss.

Sidney Salmans scored one of those runs at LSU and has been an igniter for the NSU offense since conference play began.

The senior outfielder has 27 hits in her last 16 games (.435 average) to lift her season average to .313.

The Tigers are no strangers to the Southland Conference, either. LSU has beaten three SLC teams – 3-0 win vs. Central Arkansas and wins of 2-0 and 9-1 (five innings) against McNeese.

NSU will be facing its second ranked opponent this season and third of a Power Five conference.

"Our schedule has prepared us for games like this," Pickett said. "LSU went to the Women's College World Series again last year, and they've got a lot of returners back on that staff.

"We've played at Baylor and Texas Tech this year, and we've played at LSU in the past and in the fall as well. It's not something new, but it's a tough place to play because LSU is a very good opponent."

The Lady Demons are 0-6 against Power Five members this season, but NSU battled in 8-4 and 4-1 losses at then-No. 10 Baylor and in a pair of one-run losses at Texas Tech.

Although the current Lady Demons don't have a win against a ranked opponent, they've come close a few times.

In 2017, NSU tied then-No. 1 Florida in the sixth inning (eventual 9-3 loss) and trailed then-No. 9 Oklahoma 1-0 in the sixth inning (3-0 loss). The Lady Demons took Baylor to extra innings in Natchitoches in a 3-1 loss.

NSU's roster features 12 Louisiana natives – seven from South Louisiana.