April 11, 2009

Final Stats

THIBODAUX, La. - Nicholls came out swinging on Saturday, putting forth five runs in the first three innings to claim a 5-2 victory over Northwestern State, and a series win at the Colonel Softball Complex.

"After yesterday's games, all of the coaches challenged our girls about producing at the plate," said head coach Jenny Parsons. "I was pleased with our aggressiveness today, and hopefully we can use this as a building block as we head into the home stretch of our season."

The Colonels (28-15, 14-7) pumped out five runs on seven hits in the victory, while junior Lacey Gros limited the Demons (5-33, 3-20) to two runs on four hits. Gros, who improved to 14-10 on the season, had a two-hit shutout heading into the seventh, and finished with eight strikeouts and no walks.

Nicholls got the scoring started in the bottom of the second via a RBI single by junior Lyndsey Mesh that plated senior Danielle Clayton. Clayton led off the inning with a double off the leftfield fence. The Colonels added another run on the following at bat with true freshman Kayla Watterson singling to leftfield, which was mishandled by Brittany Card. The error allowed Mesh to score to give Nicholls the 2-0 advantage.

The final run of the inning came on a RBI single through the left side by senior Haley Burkett that scored Watterson from third.

The Demons went three-up three-down in the following frame, two by way of strikeout, and the Colonels continued to pile on the runs, scoring two to give Nicholls the 5-0 advantage.

Nicholls started the scoring in the bottom of the third via a RBI single by Clayton that scored senior Kodi Butler from second. Butler led off the inning with a walk. The final Colonel run came in light of true freshman Logan Johnson ground out that plated junior Audrey Wood from third.

Northwestern State tried to mount a comeback in the top of the seventh, but fell short after scoring only two runs.

Leading the Colonels at the plate in the victory was Clayton with a 2-for-3 performance that included a RBI and a double. Also contributing RBI were Johnson, Mesh and Burkett.

Nicholls will resume action on Wednesday with a doubleheader at Louisiana-Monroe starting at 3 p.m.

###