YOUNGSVILLE, La. – Head coach Jenny Fuller wanted to see some resilience from her team earlier this week. She got that, along with an inevitable boost of confidence heading into another tournament weekend.
 
The Demons (1-5) scored the most runs in a single game under Fuller with their 12-0 run-rule win against Grambling on Tuesday. They carry that shot of confidence at the plate and in the field with them to the Mardi Gras Mambo this weekend.
 
NSU will again play five games over the course of three days beginning with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon. Saturday's doubleheader starts at 3 p.m. with Sunday's finale scheduled for 10 a.m. The Demons will play SIUE, Georgia State, New Mexico for the third time in a week, Eastern Illinois and St. Thomas (Minn.) during the weekend.
 
No game will be streamed via live video but real-time, pitch-by-pitch coverage of each game can be found at nsudemons.com/livestats.
 
"The offense did a great job on Tuesday. (Associate head coach) Brad (Fuller) had a great game plan going in," Fuller said. "I think this past weekend taught us a lot of lesson too, and lessons that we can use moving forward. We thought we did a good job this past weekend and now we can maybe get on a roll and go from there."
 
NSU showed patience and well-timed attack against the Tigers, converting six of their first-inning walks into five of their seven runs scored to jump out to the big early lead. Five different players hit doubles in the game, three players had multiple hits and eight total players got hits in the game.
 
It took 18 games a year ago for the Demons to produce four innings where they scored three or more runs. It took just six games for them to reach that number this year after two more on Tuesday.
 
The Demon's confident offense will see a range of challenges this weekend. SIUE and Eastern Illinois enter with team ERAs above 6.50, while New Mexico, who holds two shutouts against the Demons this year, and Georgia State boast staffs at 3.50 or below.
 
NSU's staff is being led in the early going by junior transfer Mattison Buster who, along with fellow transfer Erin Kirkland, picked up the first combined shutout of the season on Tuesday.
 
Buster ranks in the top 10 in the country in innings pitched on the young season with 19.2 across her conference leading five appearances. 
 
She threw her second career complete game against New Mexico this past Sunday, making it two straight seasons a Demon pitcher tossed a CG in her first start in an NSU uniform. Brooklynn Stohler accomplished the feat in the season opener against Murray State a year ago.
 
"She's really taken charge out there and getting the job done," Fuller said of Buster's performance so far this year. "She has a ton of composure, hits her spots and is doing a great job of leading." 
 
St. Thomas and Georgia State, present the biggest challenge on paper for the Demons entering the weekend. Both have team batting averages above .380 and scoring 10.0 runs per game, leading to a not surprising 9-1 combined record.
 
Every non-conference tournament weekend is a grind, but also serves as a chance to establish growth in the program and individual players, the number one goal heading into the Mambo.
 
"Our focus is still on us," Fuller said. "We need to keep building on our quality at-bats, play clean defense and stay locked in from the first pitch."