Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box

LAKE CHARLES, La. – The McNeese State University softball team used a pair of big innings – a nine-run third in game one and a six-run sixth in game two – to defeat Nicholls State University 9-1 in both contests on Saturday afternoon at Cowgirl Stadium.

Nicholls (7-13, 1-3 SLC) struggled at the plate in the losses, accounting for 10 hits in the doubleheader. Ashley Ray, Mandy Granger, Kat Angeles and Tsade Joubert each finished with two.

In the first game, McNeese State (9-15, 3-5 SLC) took advantage of six charged errors on the Colonel defense to plate nine runs in the second frame. Nicholls' Tori Lay hit her second homer of the season in the fourth but the Cowgirls would go on to win 9-1 in five innings.

The Colonels had an opportunity before the Cowgirls' outburst, loading the bases in the top of the second with only one out. Singles by Granger and Angeles followed by a walk by Katie Holmes put two runners in scoring position, but MSU got a strikeout and a grounder to escape the inning.

Ashton Bennett (4-6) suffered the loss for the Colonels, giving up six hits in four innings. Although McNeese plated nine runs, Bennett was charged with no earned runs in the loss.

Leading 3-1 in the sixth in the nightcap, McNeese State used a two-run homer, a bases loaded walk, and a bases-clearing double for a walk-off mercy-rule 9-1 victory.

The Colonels had six hits in game two and scored their only run in the fifth on a single by Granger.

Katie Moulder fell to 2-4 on the year, scattering 10 hits in 5.2 innings. Of the nine runs scored, only three were charged to Moulder.

The series against McNeese will conclude on Sunday with a single game at 1 p.m.