Box Score

THIBODAUX – Senior Carlee Winkelmann struck out a career-high seven batters as the Nicholls State University softball team picked up a 6-2 victory over Southern University on Thursday night at the Colonel Softball Complex.

With the win, Nicholls (12-34) has won three of four in its season-finale seven-game homestand. The victory also snaps Southern's (18-22) nine-game winning streak.

Southern cracked the scoring column in the first, plating a run on an RBI single from Victoria Stewart. Winkelmann, however, would pick up all three outs in the inning on swinging strikeouts.

The Colonels quickly even the scored in their half as Ashley Ray brought home Megan Gaspard on a sacrifice fly. Nicholls then took advantage of two errors to grab a 2-1 lead in the second.

In the third, Kiah Williams tied it at 2-all on a sac fly, but the Colonels would claim the lead for good in their at-bat. Ray led off with a double and came around to score on a fielder's choice by Brittany Marcet.

In the next two innings, Winkelmann kept the Lady Jaguars off the board as she picked up two strikeouts in each frame. In the fifth, Nicholls put the game away as Tori Lay drove in two on a double to left center before Brittany Ezell's sac fly gave the Colonels a 6-2 lead.

Junior transfer Lauren Crane made her first appearance in the circle, shutting out Southern the rest of the way. Crane left the bases loaded in the sixth after forcing a groundout to end the inning, and with two on and two out in the seventh, Whitney Roan chased down a foul ball in left to end the game.

Winkelmann (4-10) struck out seven in five innings of work, giving up two runs on five hits. Crane tossed two innings, surrendering two hits while walking three.

On offense, Nicholls was led by Lay with two RBIs. Ray had two hits to extend her hitting streak to eight games, and Gaspard extended hers to eight as well with an infield single. Granger pushed her hitting streak to seven while Marcet, Laine Strickland and Ezell accounted for the last three hits.

Lindsey Konopelko (5-8) took the loss in a complete game effort, giving up four earned on eight hits with three strikeouts. Southern was led on offense by Audrey Phillips and Victoria Stewart with two hits each.

Nicholls will play in its final home series of 2011, starting on Saturday with a Southland Conference doubleheader against Northwestern State University. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. Live stats and live audio will be available courtesy of ThibodauxOnline.com and geauxcolonels.com.