GRAMBLING – Riding one of its best stretches of the season, Northwestern State looks to keep the momentum rolling Tuesday afternoon when it travels to Grambling to close out the team's 2026 home-and-home series.
 
The Demons (11-14, 2-1) won their first conference road series since 2023 this past weekend taking two games from HCU before a walk-off winner spoiled a potential NSU sweep.
 
"I like the direction we're heading right now," head coach Jenny Fuller said. "We've been playing with good energy and doing a lot of things well in all phases. The key for us now is staying consistent and bringing that same focus into a midweek game on the road."
 
NSU has won six of its last eight games overall as they make the two-hour trip north to face Grambling (7-11, 1-2) for the second and final time this year. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the GSU Softball Complex. There will be no live video of the game, but live stats will be available at nsudemons.com/livestats.
 
The Demons jumped all over Grambling in the first meeting on Feb. 10 in Natchitoches, scoring seven runs in the first inning on just three hits. They added a five-run third to the tally and cruised to a 12-0 run-rule win to pick up their first victory of the season.
 
JT Smith, Britt Bourgoyne and Peyton Young all had multiple hits in the game and Smith, Bourgoyne, Makynlie Jones and Sister Arnold all drove in multiple runs.
 
The seven-run first in that game foreshadowed a trend that has defined the Demon offense since – scoring early and scoring often.
 
Since that game the Demons have scored in the first inning in 10 different games producing multiple first-inning runs in nine of them. NSU scored in its first at-bat of the game in each of the previous six games going back to the five-run first against Missouri State that led to the no-hit victory against the Bears.
 
NSU has scored 38 runs in the first inning this year, 11 more than in any other frame.
 
Unsurprisingly, that bump in early run production has coincided with the increase in batting average and on-base percentage of leadoff threat JT Smith. She has seen her average go up by nearly 40 points and her OBP increase by over 100 points since the first Grambling game.
 
Smith is now third on the team with 21 hits and second on the squad with a .447 OBP. She leads the Demons with 20 runs scored, tied for fifth most in the Southland.
 
The Tigers have had their share of big early innings as well with a six-run first against Southeast Missouri State, the game immediately following the loss in Natchitoches, to produce an 8-1 win. The also put up six in the first against Alabama A&M, a game where they scored 19 total runs, scoring three or more in an inning three times.
 
"These midweek games are important because they can test your focus," Fuller said. "Grambling can score runs, so we have to come ready to play and keep doing the things that have helped us win lately."
 
Grambling is coming off a 1-2 home weekend against Texas Southern to open SWAC play. It won the second game of Friday's doubleheader 11-10, jumping out to an 8-2 lead after two innings but needed a three-run sixth to regain the lead and win the game.
 
They scored just three runs combined in the other two games while allowing 14.
 
Leading batter Kamryn Broussard, who has a .408 average on the season, has hits in five of the past seven games and leads the team in hits, runs scored and RBI this year.