NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State plays the final four games of the 2024 season at home beginning on Tuesday night.
 
The Demons (17-30) host Grambling (14-28) in their sixth and final midweek game of the season at the Demon Diamond beginning at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. They then close the regular season with a three-game conference series against UIW beginning on Friday afternoon.
 
Tickets for the game are available ahead of time by visiting www.nsutickets.com or calling the NSU box office at 318-357-4268.
 
NSU is looking for a change of fortune after suffering a road sweep this past weekend at HCU that eliminated it from Southland Conference Tournament contention.
 
"We didn't play well enough to win across all phases," head coach Lacy Prejean said. "It was a tough weekend. But we have four games left, all of them are at home, and we need to put that behind us. Softball is a game of failures. You're going to come up short. It happens. We need to come out this week, starting on Tuesday, and show the fight that I know is there and finish strong."
 
Two straight quality outings from pitcher Kenzie Seely where she allowed just two runs in a complete game, her 11^th of the season, on Friday and five-plus innings of work 16 hours later on Saturday, presented the Demons with chances to win the weekend and the road series.
 
This season Seely has allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of her 21 total starts.
 
However, it was the HCU duo of Ronni Grofman and Katy Janes in the circle that stymied that fourth best hitting team in conference play to equal Seely's performance. The Demons had two hits in the final two games of the weekend against the combination of Grofman and Janes and went 9-for-68 at the plate for the series.
 
A return to the Demon Diamond batter's box against the Tigers will be a welcome sight for the Demons. They have had seven or more hits in each of the past four games at home, 33 total during that time, and 52 over the past seven games.
 
The Demons are batting .276 in 13 home games so far this season, with a 5-8 record in those games. Tristin Court is batting .375 at the Demon Diamond with seven doubles, a home run and eight RBI, all team bests.
 
Court remains second in the conference doubles this season with 15 and is four hits shy of becoming the third player in the past five years to record 50 hits in a single season. Laney Roos (58) and Bailie Ragsdale (51) each reached the mark during the 2022 season.
 
Court and Seely are two of the 10 senior players and one senior manager, Heather Zook, that will be playing their final collegiate games this week, the majority of which that have been Demons for three or more years and have left their mark on the NSU record books in multiple ways.
 
"Our seniors have poured so much into this program over the past few years," Prejean said. "We're going to celebrate them on Saturday for everything they have done on the field and off of it. This is their week to write the final pages of their softball playing careers. I know they are going to give it everything they have for each other and this team."
 
The Tiger pitching staff is led by senior Dacia Richard and her 3.26 ERA and .244 opponent batting average. She allowed six hits and one run combined in her two complete game outings this past weekend against Alcorn State.
 
As a whole however, opponents are batting .295 against the Tiger staff this season that is allowing 7.4 hits and 4.3 runs per game.
 
The Tigers scored six runs three times in their previous five games, and are 4-1 overall during that stretch. That immediately following a five-game losing skid that included a pair of losses to Texas Southern and a sweep by rival Southern.