Dominant pitching has carried the McNeese State softball team to a 9-0 start in Southland Conference play.

The Cowgirls will hope for a return to form when they host Northwestern State in the first game of a three-game series at 6 p.m. today.

McNeese (26-11, 9-0 SLC) lost a 7-0 nonconference game to Louisiana-Lafayette Wednesday night. The loss ended a seven-game winning streak.

Northwestern State (18-15, 5-4) won two of three games at home against Houston Christian last weekend.

“Northwestern is always a tough series, always a battle,” McNeese head coach James Landreneau said. “(Demons head coach Donald Pickett) always has their team playing well and we’ve had a lot of split series during my career. We know it is going to be a challenge, but we’re excited to play at home and excited to play conference games. This is the fun part of the season.”

McNeese’s pitching has been dominant in Southland play. Six of the team’s nine wins have come via shutout, with the team posting a league-leading 0.61 ERA. Starters Whitney Tate (0.33), Shaelyn Sanders (0.61) and Ashley Vallejo (1.31) rank first, second and fifth in ERA in conference games only. Tate (12-3, 1.48 ERA), the reigning SLC Pitcher of the Week, is tied for the conference lead with four wins while Vallejo (7-7, 3.16) is 12-0 in conference games over the last two seasons.

Senior outfielder Alayis Seneca leads McNeese at the plate with a .371 average, 36 hits, and 20 runs scored. She leads the conference in batting average in league play with a .560 mark. Shortstop Reese Reyna is hitting .500 in conference play and had the lone hit in Wednesday’s loss to ULL. The Cowgirls are hitting .400 and average 7.2 runs on 10 hits per game.

“They’re really good players and have done a really good job down there which is why they’ve been at the top of the conference the past few years,” Pickett said. “Going down to their place it’s going to take our best game.”

Makenzie Chaffin leads the Demons with a .351 average and three home runs. Keely Dubois is hitting .429 in conference games. Maggie Darr (9-5, 2.93) appeared in all three games last weekend, allowing one run and nine hits over 11 innings pitched.

The series will conclude with a 1 p.m. Friday doubleheader.