NATCHITOCHES – "Sixth-inning magic."

The Northwestern State softball team had been missing its late offensive surges in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.

But the magic returned Friday as the Lady Demons struck for four runs in the sixth inning of a 5-2 win against Houston Baptist.

Two of NSU's three hits in the game were consecutive home runs by Julie Rawls and Kaitlyn St. Clair, breaking a 1-1 tie and propelling the Lady Demons (25-20, 12-10 Southland Conference) to snap a six-game conference losing streak.

NSU's Cayla Jones and Sidney Harris drew one-out walks to make Rawls' ninth home run of the season hurt HBU (8-30, 5-17 SLC) much more.

"We call it sixth-inning magic, and it came through this sixth inning with (Cayla Jones and Sidney Harris) getting on," Rawls said. "I knew I had to come through with a hit or an RBI or something, and I was being very selective in that at-bat, and she came in with the pitch.

"This feels really good. We need confidence heading into the conference tournament, and we've got to build on this in the last five games. Getting this win under our belt feels really good."

Rawls hit a towering shot that carried over the right-field wall.

St. Clair then knocked a solo home run, her third of the season.

The sixth-inning support helped a solid Micaela Bouvier (13-8), who held HBU to two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts.

St. Clair (2-for-3) had NSU's only hit of the game in the first five innings with a double in the second, scoring on an error in the next at-bat.

HBU responded with a walk and two singles with two outs, and Demi Janak knocked in Heidi Jaquez to tie the game 1-1 in the third inning.

But Bouvier locked down from there, retiring 10 straight batters until a Janak (2-for-3) single in the sixth inning.

"I was able to stay confident, and I know our hitters and our defense has been working hard this week," Bouvier said. "I wanted to make sure my stuff was on to work for them because they were working for me.

"It's a lot of fun to win the first game because we build off of it, and it gives us energy for the rest of the series."

HBU's Nicole Shedd led off the seventh inning with a solo home run, but Bouvier stranded two runners with her third fly out of the frame.

Friday's win is just NSU's third victory in the first game of a conference series. The Lady Demons swept Lamar and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi when winning the first game.

NSU coach Donald Pickett said timely plays helped pull the Lady Demons through.

"It feels good to get back on track and get a W," Pickett said. "We needed it for our confidence even though we didn't play well.

"We got pretty good pitching, but I'd like to see us be a little sharper toward the end. We didn't play aggressively enough on defense. We're still giving away too many outs at the plate. We finished strong and worked some walks with some big hits, and that's what we're going to have to do to win."

HBU pitcher Jessica Patak (5-17) allowed five runs on just three hits, but two of her three walks were crucial.

The series concludes Saturday with a doubleheader at noon with the first game being called on the Demon Sports Network by Tony Taglavore. The second game will be streamed on nsudemons.com.

NSU seniors Micaela Bouvier and Sidney Salmans will be honored with special first pitches before the doubleheader followed by a postgame ceremony after the second game.