Game One Box
Game Two Box

THIBODAUX – The Nicholls State University softball team bounced back from an 8-4 loss against Northwestern State in game one to split its Southland Conference doubleheader on Saturday at the Colonel Softball Complex, taking the second game, 2-0, behind a complete game shutout from freshman Katie Moulder.

Nicholls (13-35, 5-20 SLC) will be trying to win its second conference series in a row on Sunday as the Colonels honor their 2011 Senior Class – Tori Lay, Whitney Roan and Carlee Winkelmann. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.

Game two turned out to be a heated pitchers' duel as Moulder battled with Northwestern State's Brooke Boening, with both hurlers tossing complete games. Moulder (3-7) held the Lady Demons (30-21, 13-13 SLC) to just two hits while Boening fanned 14 but was tagged with two runs in the fifth on RBI doubles from Ashley Ray and Whitney Roan.

Still trailing 2-0 in the seventh, NSU's Kayla Cole led off the frame with her second hit of the game. Moulder forced a fly out on the next at-bat, and with one on and one out, second baseman Tori Lay caught a hard liner to double up Cole at first, giving Nicholls a 2-0 victory.

In game two, Northwestern State broke a 3-all tie in the sixth with a run, and then added four insurance runs in the seventh to take the opener. Ashton Bennett (6-18) tossed 6.2 innings for the Colonels while striking out a career-high eight batters. She gave up six earned on eight hits.

On the day, Nicholls was led by the duo of Ray and Megan Gaspard. Both juniors extended their hitting streaks to 10-games with Ray being a perfect 5-for-5 on the day with two RBIs. Ray continued her astonishing week at the plate as she is now hitting .365 with 15 home runs and 47 RBIs for the season. Gaspard had two hits in each game, scored three runs and stole two bases to up her total to 22.

In game one, Lay put Nicholls on the board in the fourth with a RBI double, but NSU answered with three runs in the top of the fifth. However, the Colonels tied it up in the bottom half after scoring on an error and a wild pitch.

The Lady Demons took back the lead in the sixth, taking advantage of two Colonel errors, and used four hits in the seventh to plate four to go up 8-3. Ray added a sac fly in the seventh for Nicholls but Northwestern State stranded two Colonel runners to win 8-4.

Along with Ray and Gaspard; Roan, Mandy Granger and Lauren Jolivette each had a hit for the Colonels.

Northwestern State was led in the victory by Tara McKenney with two hits and two RBIs while Tiffany Ward had two hits and a RBI. Kelee Grimes (9-7) picked up the win, throwing 2.2 innings of relief.

The Colonels will wrap up the series on Sunday with their 2011 Senior Day. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m. Live stats and live audio will be available courtesy of ThibodauxOnline.com and geauxcolonels.com.