Box vs Oklahoma State
Box vs LSU

HOUSTON – The Nicholls State University softball team lost a pair of games against nationally ranked teams on Saturday in the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic at Cougar Softball Stadium, falling 7-6 in ten innings against No. 22 Oklahoma and finished the day with an 11-2 loss against No. 18 LSU.

Against Oklahoma State, Nicholls (3-5) sent the game into extra innings after pinch-hitter Brittany Marcet delivered a two-out RBI single to even the game at 5-5 in the seventh. In the tenth, Kat Angeles gave the Colonels the lead on a fielder's choice; however, OSU (7-2) put together a two-out rally with three straight singles to take the game 7-6.

For the Colonels, Ashley Ray hit her third home run of the year, finishing the day with two hits and two RBIs. Megan Gaspard also drove in two on a single in the fourth.

Ashton Bennett (1-2) lasted the entire game for Nicholls, throwing 9-plus innings in the loss. She was charged with six runs on 14 hits and finished with three strikeouts.

Her counterpart, Kat Espinosa, earned the win with a complete game, improving to 4-0 on the year. The sophomore struck out 12 while giving up six hits and five earned runs.

Both teams got on the board in the first with the Colonels getting a solo homer by Ray. The Cowgirls would then take the lead in the third after a two-run single, and added another run in the fourth.

In the fifth, Gaspard's single made the count 4-3 before Ray evened the score on an infield single. The Cowgirls answered right back in their half with a run to go up 5-4.

Down to their last at-bat in the seventh, Marcet came through in the clutch for Nicholls with a single to left to send the contest into extra innings. The Colonels were in position to pull off the upset after taking the lead in the tenth, but the Cowgirls rallied back to escape with a win.

In the nightcap against LSU (9-2), the Colonels went toe-to-toe with the Tigers in the early going by only trailing 3-2 after four innings of play, but errors would prove to be costly as LSU scored eight runs in the fifth en route to a mercy 11-2 victory.

Ray led the offense once again with a double and two RBIs. She drove in Gaspard and Lauren Jolivette in the third which cut the Tiger lead to 3-2. Gaspard was the only other Colonel to have a hit in the game.

After a scoreless fourth, LSU would get some help from the Colonel defense to put the game out of reach. Nicholls recorded three errors in the fifth which LSU took advantage of to plate eight runs. The Tigers scored the first two on an error, and after bringing in three more, Lauren Houston belted a three-run homer to cap off the inning.

LSU's Meghan Patterson, who came into the contest with a 0.39 ERA and 33 strikeouts, would retire the Colonels in order in the fifth, ending the game at 11-2. Patterson tacked on nine more strikeouts in the outing but was charged with two earned runs.

Carlee Winklemann (1-1) threw five innings for Nicholls, giving up four earned on eight hits. She finished with two strikeouts while only walking one.

The Colonels wrap up play in Houston on Sunday with Southern at 9 a.m. and Oklahoma State at 11 a.m.