The Northwestern State Lady Demons softball team represents Northwestern State University in NCAA Division I college softball. The team participates in the Southland Conference. The Lady Demons were most recently led by head coach Lacy Prejean. The team plays its home games at Lady Demon Diamond located on the university's campus.
In 2013, the Lady Demons' home field, Lady Demon Diamond, received a $466,000 renovation including a partially covered grandstand with chairback seating, a new press box, and concession stand.
History Softball began at Northwestern State in 1979. The Lady Demons have competed in every season since that time. The program has won four Southland Conference regular season titles (1991, 1998, 1999, 2000), five Southland Conference tournament titles (1998, 2000, 2002, 2013, 2014). As conference tournament champions, the Lady Demons won the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Softball Championship tournament. As of the start of the 2015 season the Lady Demons have an all-time record of 924–912–3 and a Southland Conference record of 344–335.
The Lady Demons tie for second most regular season conference championships. The team has also performed well in the Southland conference tournament. At five, the Lady Demons are second in the number of conference tournament championships. In addition to winning five tournament titles, the team has the best tournament winning percentage (.651) with an overall record of 43–23 and has the second most conference tournament appearances of current conference membership at 16. Five Lady Demons have been named the conference tournament Most Valuable Player. Twenty-nine Lady Demons have been named to the conference All Tournament team with ten of those players named to the team multiple times.
Year-by-year results Sources: SeasonConferenceCoachOverallConferenceNotes Games Win Loss Tie Games Win Loss TieIndependent 1979 Independent Pam Carey 24 10 14 0 0 0 0 0 1980 Independent Debra Pheil 26 11 15 0 0 0 0 0 1981 Independent James Smith 24 14 10 0 0 0 7 0 1982 Independent James Smith 27 17 10 0 0 0 0 0 1983 Independent James Smith 29 19 10 0 0 0 0 0 1984 Independent James Smith 35 12 23 0 0 0 0 0 Gulf States Conference 1985 Gulf States Conference Linda Jones 47 20 26 1 16 4 12 0 1986 Gulf States Conference Linda Jones 43 23 20 0 20 10 10 0 1987 Gulf States Conference Rickey McCalister 42 22 20 0 20 11 9 0 Southland Conference 1988 Southland Rickey McCalister 49 25 24 0 13 6 7 0 1989 Southland Rickey McCalister 61 32 29 0 12 5 7 0 1990 Southland Rickey McCalister 61 43 17 0 12 8 4 0 1991 Southland Rickey McCalister 63 44 18 1 23 18 5 0 Conference Champions 1992 Southland Rickey McCalister 59 37 21 1 27 16 11 0 1993 Southland Rickey McCalister 53 25 28 0 26 7 19 0 1994 Southland Rickey McCalister 59 17 42 0 32 9 23 0 1995 Southland Gay McNutt 70 45 25 0 27 22 5 0 1996 Southland Gay McNutt 51 10 41 0 24 7 17 0 1997 Southland Gay McNutt 55 26 29 0 22 12 10 0 1998 Southland Gay McNutt 58 40 18 0 26 23 3 0 SLC regular season championsSLC tournament champsNCAA tournament – 1st round 1999 Southland Gay McNutt 57 31 26 0 26 19 7 0 SLC regular season champions 2000 Southland Gay McNutt 60 41 19 0 26 22 4 0 SLC regular season champsSLC tournament champsNCAA tournament – 1st round 2001 Southland Ty Singleton 50 30 20 0 26 15 11 0 2002 Southland Ty Singleton 70 45 25 0 27 22 5 0 SLC tournament champsNCAA tournament – 1st round 2003 Southland Eileen Schmidt 60 27 33 0 27 14 13 0 2004 Southland Eileen Schmidt 63 35 28 0 26 14 12 0 2005 Southland Mike Perniciaro 63 35 28 0 27 15 12 0 2006 Southland Becky McMurty 60 28 32 0 25 12 13 0 2007 Southland Becky McMurty 58 29 29 0 30 17 13 0 2008 Southland Becky McMurty 55 10 45 0 29 5 24 0 2009 Southland Donald Pickett 50 5 45 0 29 3 26 0 2010 Southland Donald Pickett 54 27 27 0 30 13 17 0 2011 Southland Donald Pickett 57 32 25 0 32 15 17 0 2012 Southland Donald Pickett 50 19 31 0 21 7 14 0 2013 Southland Donald Pickett 55 40 15 0 25 18 7 0 SLC tournament champsNCAA tournament – 1st round 2014 Southland Donald Pickett 50 30 20 0 25 15 10 0 SLC tournament champsNCAA tournament – 1st round 2015 Southland Donald Pickett 54 36 18 0 25 22 3 0 SLC regular season champsSLC tournament finalist 2016 Southland Donald Pickett 52 27 25 0 27 10 17 0 2017 Southland Donald Pickett 57 23 33 1 27 12 15 0 2018 Southland Donald Pickett 53 28 25 0 27 14 13 0 2019 Southland Donald Pickett 57 30 27 0 27 15 12 0 2020 Southland Donald Pickett 22 15 7 0 3 3 0 0 Series cut short by COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Southland Donald Pickett 46 24 22 0 27 16 11 0
Post Season Play
NCAA Division I Tournament results The Lady Demons have appeared in five NCAA Division I Tournaments. Their combined record is 0–10.
Year Round Opponent Result/ScoreNCAA Division I Tournament Results 1998 First GameSecond Game Washington Long Beach State L 0–2L 1–9 2000 LSU Oregon L 1–7L 1–4 2002 LSU Mississippi State L 2–3 (10) L 6–9 2013 Louisiana–Lafayette Central Connecticut State L 0–3 L 1–9 2014 Baylor Houston L 1–6 L 6–7
Source:
Honors and awards
Southland Conference Sources: Player of the Year Rhonda Rube, 1989, 91, Annie Johnston, 2002 Hitter of the Year Brandy Kenney, 1998 (Shared) Annie Johnston, 2002 Anne LaHaye, 1990 Pitcher of the Year Cindy Leggett, 1999 Newcomer of the Year Rhonda Rube, 1989 Nancy Percle, 1990 Annie Johnston, 2001 Freshman of the Year Jessica Holaway, 2000 Coach of the Year Rickey McCalister, 1989, 90, 91 Gay McNutt, 1998, 99, 00 All-Conference 1st Team
Misty Carraway, 1997 Ginger Craig, 1988 Lindsey Danzy, 2003, 04 Amy Grisham, 1991, 92 Annie Johnston, 2001, 02 Shante Jones, 1998 Brandy Kenney, 1998, 99 Anne LaHaye, 1990 Cindy Leggett, 1999 Erin Mancuso, 2001 Nicole Martin, 2003, 05 Crista Miller, 2002 Sarina Noack, 2006 Sonja Olsen, 1988, 89, 90, 91 Jennifer Owens, 1998 Erin Palomarez, 2001 Missy Pereira, 1990 Claudia Percle, 1990 Nancy Percle, 1990 Brianna Rodriguez, 2013 Rhonda Rube, 1989, 90, 91 Rustie Stevens, 1992 Shannon Straty, 1999 Linette Stuart, 1999 Brittany Virgoe, 2014 Amber Welker, 2000
See also List of NCAA Division I softball programs
References
External links