NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State's two-week tilt with the top two teams in the Southland Conference continues this weekend with the sixth installment of the battle for the Cypress Trophy.
 
The Demons (3-24, 0-6) coming off a road series at McNeese this past weekend, will host Southeastern (23-8, 5-1), the current leaders in the conference standings, in a three-game series starting Friday at the Demon Diamond.
 
First pitch of Friday's doubleheader is set for 4 p.m. with Saturday's single game set for a 12 p.m. start. Tickets for the games can be purchased by visiting nsutickets.com and start at just $10 for general admission seating.
 
The defending conference champion Lady Lions make their way to Natchitoches as the winners of the past three consecutive Cypress Trophy series between the two teams. It is the longest one team has held the trophy since its inception in 2019 but passion softball fans Marcia and Cameron Barr.
 
So named for the bald cypress, the official state tree of Louisiana, that dot the landscape between the state's oldest settlement (Natchitoches) and its strawberry capital (Hammond), the trophy has been presented to the winner of the season series between the two teams every year, save for the 2020 COVID-canceled year.
 
"Tt's really cool with me being a new head coach to learn the inner workings of the Southland and about all these rivalries and where they come from," head coach Jenny Fuller said. "And especially having this be an in-state rivalry, that just makes it that much more fun."
 
The Lady Lions have held the trophy under the guidance of head coach Rick Fremin who has turned Southeastern into a regional powerhouse program that nearly made its way to the NCAA Super Regionals in 2024.
 
"They're going to pitch well, run well, play defense well and hit well," first-year NSU head coach Jenny Fuller said. "So, I'm excited to play them. They're a team that I watched on TV last year in those regional games, so I know that they're really good and they're going to be well rounded.
 
"This week we've just been trying to get ready for them and what they like to do. They're going to steal, bunt, pitch really well and we're just doing our best to get ready for that."
 
The Lady Lions lead the country with 108 stolen bases this season and finished in the top five in the nation in the category each of the previous four seasons. There have been 10 games this season where Southeastern has stolen five or more bases in a single game, more times than the rest of the teams in the Southland combined.
 
Their speed and base running ability are designed to apply pressure to defenses with every pitch, an area that has been a focal point for the Demons this week and one that has seen some of the most consistency on the young team.
 
"Defense has always been a thing of mine," Fuller said. "I love defense, probably because I was a pitcher. We do put a big emphasis on defense within our program and that we have to do our job when it's our time to do our job. I think that the pitchers know that the defense has their back and if SLU hits it, we can make plays behind them."
 
Overall this season the Demons have committed the fourth fewest errors in the conference and have a team fielding percentage of .957. Threw the first two weekends of conference play, NSU has just four errors, the second fewest and a .973 fielding percentage. The committed just two errors in the first five games of SLC play before a two-error game in the finale against McNeese.
 
The Demons have relied on their defense to provide outs throughout the season as NSU pitchers have the second fewest total strikeouts (67) in the league.