Feb. 15, 2008

Final Stats

BATON ROUGE, La. - Nicholls lost their opening game in the Easton Tiger Classic to Chattanooga 15-6 in five innings, but followed that up with a 5-4 win over Ball State to split day one in the tournament.

"I thought that we made a lot of mistakes in the first game that we corrected in the second," said head coach Jenny Parsons. "The team kept their composer and really fought hard against Ball State."

In the first game, Nicholls (1-4) jumped out ahead 2-0 in the first inning behind a two RBI single to center field by senior Rachel Pugh that scored senior Kathyrn Harrell and junior Kodi Butler. Harrell reached on a walk while Butler singles to left center.

Chattanooga had some fire power of their own as they scored a total of five runs in the top of the second to capture the lead. In the top of the second, Nicholls gave up five runs on two hits, three walks and three wild pitches. In the middle of the second inning, sophomore Lacey Gros replaced senior Krystalin Ensminger in the circle.

The Colonels responded to the Mocs' five-run inning with a four-run bottom half of their own to recapture the lead 6-5. The inning was powered by a single to center field by Nicole Smith who got her first start as a Colonel behind the plate. Freshman Whitney Roan followed up with a single, and Harrell walked to load up the bases with no outs. Two batters later, sophomore Audrey Wood hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score one, and then senior Amy Thibodeaux hit a screaming double to center field that brought home two. Pugh accounted for the other run in the inning as she singled to right field and brought home a run.

The Mocs (4-2) responded with a four run third inning and six run fifth inning while the Colonels failed to score any more runs in the game as it was called in five innings. Ensminger was tabbed with the loss in the circle for Nicholls. For the game, Pugh was 3-for-3 with three RBIs while Thibodeaux was 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the loss.

Due to rain and poor playing conditions, the Colonels game against Ball State didn't start until 10:25 p.m., but the bad weather and late start didn't stop Nicholls from picking up their first win of the season in the 5-4 victory.

The score was a stalemate until the top of the second when Harrell tripled to center field to bring home junior Haley Burkett and sophomore Leah Bland. The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fourth, Ball State (0-2) put together a four-run inning that allowed them to take the lead 4-2. Ensminger, who had struggled against Chattanooga in the first game, had successful put together three shut out innings against the Cardinals before Ball State's offense finally came around. Wood replaced Ensminger in the circle for the rest of the game.

Nicholls responded with a one-run fifth inning to make it a 4-3 game. Bland hit a shot to the short stop that was mishandled and subsequently scored junior Danielle Clayton from third.

With the game on the line, Wood stepped up and threw three innings of scoreless relief and only allowed one hit, and in the top of the seventh the Colonels offense picked up two runs off the bat of Harrell that scored sophomore Karla Troxler and Bland. The two-runs were all the Colonels needed to hold on for their first victory of the season.

Of the seven hits that the Colonels put up on the scoreboard, Harrell accounted for four of them as she went 4-for-4 with four RBIs. Wood also got her first win of the season in the circle.

Nicholls will be back tomorrow against No.7 LSU at 1:30 p.m. and St. John's at 6 p.m.

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