NATCHITOCHES – Intensity and focus returned to the Northwestern State softball dugout as the Lady Demons prepare to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a critical Southland Conference series.
 
NSU (19-19, 9-6 SLC) regained momentum Wednesday with a 7-4 win against a Louisiana Tech (31-10) team that is tied for the Conference USA lead.
 
Friday's doubleheader starts at 3 p.m. with Saturday's finale at 1 p.m. The action can be heard on nsudemons.com and on KNWD 91.7 FM.
 
The Lady Demons are trying to keep their SLC regular season title hopes alive, which will likely require a sweep of the Islanders (7-32, 3-12 SLC).
 
Before a sweep at Nicholls this past weekend, NSU was in the conference lead at 9-3. Now the Lady Demons are tied for sixth place with Stephen F. Austin with four league series remaining.
 
"(Wednesday's win) just kinds of reminds us who we are," said sophomore Cayla Jones, who hit one of NSU's two home runs Wednesday. "That Nicholls series – it wasn't us.
 
"This is a boost for us and lets us know what we need to do to be successful as a team."
 
The conference is chasing Nicholls (23-16, 12-3 SLC), which swept NSU and Incarnate Word in its last two SLC series.
 
Even if Nicholls doesn't significantly falter down the stretch, NSU can improve its seeding for the SLC Tournament, which will be played in Natchitoches from May 7-10.
 
The Lady Demons have two home series remaining (finish against eighth-place Central Arkansas on May 3-4) with road trips to fourth-place Lamar (10-5 SLC) and SFA in between.
 
NSU is an impressive 12-2 at home this season, including 6-0 in SLC play with sweeps of Abilene Christian and Southeastern. The Lady Demons also beat SLC member Houston Baptist twice in non-conference games at home.
 
But the Islanders are steadily improving, taking games from SFA and UCA in its last two SLC series and playing Lamar to two one-run losses.
 
"The big thing is if we have the fight and toughness that we're capable of having," said NSU coach Donald Pickett. "If we have those two things, we'll compete and have a chance to succeed.
 
"We've got four weekends left in conference play, and this is the time that it (toughness) shows up. It's been a grind, but I want to see that our focus, our approach and our toughness between the ears show up every game."
 
NSU continues to flex its pitching depth as junior Samantha Guile tossed a complete game Wednesday for her team-high seventh win.
 
Guile (7-8) will likely start one of the games this series, but NSU has four pitchers that have made at least seven starts this season.
 
"It's huge to get this momentum, and we know that (TAMU-CC) is a good team," said Guile, who allowed just three earned runs to a powerful Louisiana Tech team. "Having a good win (Wednesday) really helps us going into it.
 
The Islanders rely primarily on pitcher Kandace Johnson, who has all three league wins with a 4.70 ERA in league play.
 
NSU will celebrate its softball alumni with a reunion this weekend as more than 20 former Lady Demons are expected to attend.
 
This season is the 20th anniversary of NSU's 1999 SLC regular season title as those Lady Demons are the only team in program history to repeat as conference regular season champions. NSU won both the regular season and conference tournament crowns in 1998 that parlayed into an NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Cindy Leggett won SLC Pitcher of the Year to lead nine Lady Demons who received honors.