BEAUMONT, Texas – Hoping to continue their strong start in the Southland, Lamar University softball prepares for their first home conference series of the season as they face off against Northwestern State. The series begins with a Friday doubleheader featuring games at 12 and 2 p.m. with the Saturday finale taking place at 12 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Cardinals came home empty in their Tuesday doubleheader at Baylor which saw defeats of 5-1 and 6-1. Head coach Amy Hooks used the opportunity to allow for 15 different players to take at-bats and gain experience against a Power 5 ball club.
 
KEY STORYLINES
Lamar is enjoying their first 3-0 start in conference play with Hooks at the helm. They will need to keep up their momentum if they hope to catch the best conference start in team history which was an 8-0 stretch in 2017.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Cameron Niedenthal has started to pick things up for the Cardinals with hits in seven of her last eight games for a .375 average in that time. She has also been hitting when it matters with 11 of her 14 RBI on the season coming with two outs.
 
Shenita Tucker managed two more stolen bases on Tuesday to bring her season total up to 20 and tie for second nationally. At this pace, she is on track to not only break the single season record for steals but also challenge the career steals mark of 41 set by Shannon Klaus from 2018-20.
 
On the mound, Makayla Valle looked solid in four innings of relief in Game 2 against Baylor allowing just one run on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts. This was the most innings she had pitched since her Cardinal debut and should serve as a conference boost as the team looks for another arm to step up as they get into conference play.
 
OPPONENT INFO: Northwestern State (11-16, 0-3 SLC)
Time: Friday at 12 and 2 p.m., Saturday at 12 p.m.
Series Record: LU 15-14
Last Meeting: LU 5-4 (5/11/23)
 
The Demons have fallen on hard times as of late entering this weekend having lost five straight games including getting swept at home against Nicholls in their first SLC series last weekend. Lacy Prejean is in her first season as head coach for NSU after serving as an assistant for UL Lafayette where she helped the program to four NCAA Regionals.
 
Tristin Court and Taylor Williams are the team's top two batters in terms of batting average, RBI and OPS while Laney Roos has drawn a conference-leading 17 walks through 27 games. On the mound, Maggie Darr and Kenzie Seely have established themselves as the top two arms for the Demons but have both been susceptible to allowing extra-base hits with Darr allowing the most in the conference thus far.
 
All games will take place at the LU Softball Complex and will be streamed on ESPN+.