Game One Final Stats
Game Two Final Stats

THIBODAUX – The Nicholls State University softball team racked up 21 hits and used two outstanding performances in the circle that limited Southeastern Louisiana to six hits, as the Colonels claimed two mercy-rule victories, 8-0 and 10-2, on Tuesday evening at the Colonel Softball Complex.

With the sweep, Nicholls improves to 7-19 on the year and moves to 3-3 in Southland Conference play. Southeastern Louisiana falls to 6-25 and 0-6 in the SLC.

Four Colonels – Kat Angeles, Ashley Bertot, Megan Gaspard and Ashley Ray - finished the day with three hits each. Leah Andrus drove in four runs, as did Ray, and Gaspard added three RBIs.

In game one, Nicholls scored a run in each of its four at-bats, capped on a two-run homer by Ray in the fourth, and Katie Moulder tossed five solid innings to give the Colonels an 8-0 victory.

Andrus got the Colonels started in the first, lacing a two-run single. In the next inning, Angeles made it 3-0 on a RBI single before Ray drilled a pitch through the leftside, adding two more runs for a 5-0 advantage.

After Nicholls tacked on an unearned run in the third, Ray blasted her sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot to left center, making the score 8-0. Ray, who extended her hitting streak to 10 games, moved into a third-place tie with Kat Harrell on the Colonel all-time home run list with 23 career long balls.

In the top of the fifth, Moulder mowed through SLU lineup, getting a pop up and two flyouts to end the game. In the win, Moulder gave up four hits and struck out two.

For the night cap, Nicholls took at demanding 7-1 lead after two innings before plating three more in the fourth en route to a 10-2 victory.

Ashton Bennett (3-7) put together her second straight impressive outing, giving up just two hits and no earned runs. Bennett also added an RBI single in the first that gave Nicholls a 3-1 lead.

SLU struck first in the opening frame, scoring an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom half, Gaspard delivered a base knock up the middle with the bags loaded, giving Nicholls a 2-1 advantage. After Bennett's single chased SLU starter Jessie Brown out of the game, Rachael Huggins recorded one of her two RBIs on a single.

The fireworks continued in the second as Nicholls took advantage of two leadoff errors to make it 7-1. After scoring two on a single by Andrus, the Colonels added one more on a shallow sacrifice fly by Gaspard.

In the fourth, the Colonels scored three times on three consecutive doubles. Rachael Hugghins and Victoria Hugghin laced two-baggers to virtually the same spot in left center, and Rachel Moore blasted a shot to right center to make it 10-1.

In the final at-bat, SLU added another unearned run and threatened to end the run-rule by loading the bases with two out. However, Bennett fanned Trish Bliss to leave the bases juiced and ended the game in five innings, giving Nicholls its third straight win.

Ariell Van Hook led SLU with two hits on the day, including her fifth double of the season. Brown was tagged with the loss after pitching a third of an inning in game two, while Kenna Terry suffered the loss after pitching 1.2 innings in game one.

Nicholls returns to action on Wednesday when they host ULM at 6 p.m.