RUSTON, La. – Signs of steady improvement continued to surface for Northwestern State softball this past weekend.
 
The Demons (3-8) won a pair of games this weekend, including a massive seven-run comeback in the final two innings of the game and the first career complete game shutout from transfer Mattison Buster. Those performances were the clearest signs yet of the progress the Demons continue to make two weeks into the season.
 
"We showed some improvement this weekend going 2–3, and there were definitely flashes of what this team is capable of, especially with (Mattison) Buster in the circle setting the tone," head coach Jenny Fuller said.
 
"That being said, we still have areas we can clean up. We need to do a better job with timely hitting and limit the free passes we're giving opponents on the bases. When we tighten those things up, we'll put ourselves in a much better position to be successful."
 
Building off that progress at the Mardi Gras Mambo, the Demons face their toughest midweek opponent of the season in Louisiana Tech (8-2) on Tuesday night in the first of two meetings with the Bulldogs this year.
 
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
 
Also a participant in this past weekend's tournament in Youngsville, Tech picked up three wins in their five games. Preseason CUSA Player of the Year and newly named CUSA Player of the Week, Reagan Marchant, clubbed a walk-off home run to give the Bulldogs their win against New Mexico.
 
Marchant enters the matchup hitting .353 and is second on the team with 10 RBI. She went 8-for-20 at the plate in six games this past week with nine RBI.
 
The Demons got their own heroics from sophomore Brynn Daniel who delivered her first walk-off hit, a single to right, giving NSU their second seven-run comeback win in as many years. 
 
Daniel secured her spot as the Queen of the Krewe of Raking after going 8-for-15 (.533) at the plate at the Mardi Gras Mambo, and reached base 10 times in her final 13 plate appearances.
 
She leads the team with a .414 batting average and tops the club in hits, slugging, OPS and on-base percentage. Her seven walks are also the most on the team this year and three stolen bases is second, only behind Hayden Andrews' four.
 
Daniel served as the catalyst for the NSU offense this past weekend, just as Buster did for the pitching staff.
 
She picked up her third win of the season with her first career complete game shutout on Saturday, the second shutout she helped secure on the week. Buster threw the first four innings of NSU's 12-0 win against Grambling.
 
Buster may well be asked to face her former team on Tuesday, ranked No. 23 in the latest D1softball.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, after providing quality inning after quality inning this past weekend.
 
"Tech is a really good team so we are going to have to do well in all phases of the game to win," Fuller said.