NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State softball team will attempt to buck a recent trend Wednesday by hoping a more historical trend holds to form when Louisiana Tech visits Lady Demon Diamond.

NSU (24-19), who is trying to end a seven-game losing streak, has split with the Lady Techsters each of the last two seasons and won six of the past nine meetings.

Louisiana Tech (30-18), winners of 14 of its last 15 games, won an earlier meeting 9-7 in Ruston despite NSU scoring the game's first four runs.

The Lady Demons (11-10 SLC) hope to gain momentum heading into a crucial home series with Houston Baptist as NSU tries to strengthen its Southland Conference Tournament picture.

"We want to go in and compete, and we want to see good approaches in this game," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "We need to turn the momentum in our favor.

"Tech is riding a lot of momentum right now, so we know it's going to be tough."

In NSU's seven consecutive losses, the Lady Demons have been mostly competitive.

Six of those losses have come to Nicholls and Southeastern – Nicholls is in a three-way tie for the conference lead, while Southeastern is just one game back.

Two losses came by one run at Nicholls, and two losses to Southeastern came as the Lady Lions took the lead in their final at-bat.

The other two losses were run-rule defeats – one at Nicholls and one at then-No. 15 LSU.

NSU's bats struggled in the swamp at Nicholls this past weekend, including two shutouts at the hands of Colonels pitchers Saturday.

"Obviously it'd be great to score a run early," Pickett said. "We've got to do other things better, too.

"Like making routine plays, moving runners, getting timely hits. It'd be great to get out front so we can relax and not press as much."

NSU's offense was bolstered by the return of Cayla Jones (missed six games), who hit a three-run home run Friday at Nicholls in a 4-3 loss.

Jones moved into the leadoff spot after an injury to Sidney Salmans, who had raised her batting average more than 100 points in the previous month.

The Lady Demons will face a Louisiana Tech team that has a four-game lead and tiebreaker over second-place UAB.

The Techsters' 13-game winning streak was snapped in a loss to UAB, but Louisiana Tech rebounded to take the series from the Blazers.

Add in the in-state rivalry and quality non-conference competition at home, and Pickett said he enjoys playing a home-and-home with the Lady Techsters every season.

"It's good to be able to play competitive teams outside the conference, and Tech is definitely that," Pickett said. "We're playing the best team in Conference USA.

"If we go out and win and be competitive, it sends a message to our kids. We want to get our momentum back."