Final Stats 1 | Final Stats 2 THIBODAUX, La. – After fending off a comeback against Southeastern Louisiana in a game-one 6-4 victory, the Nicholls State University softball team jumped all over the Lady Lions in the night cap and sophomore Hannah Haydel carried a no-hitter into the final inning as the Colonels defeated SLU 8-0 in five innings to sweep their Southland Conference doubleheader against their in-state rivals on Saturday at the Colonel Softball Complex.
 
The Colonels (16-27, 6-9) have won three consecutive games, and four straight in conference play. Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana (14-21, 6-11) will wrap up the series on Sunday at 12 p.m.
 
In game one, the Colonels scored two runs in the first inning as Haley Parkerson legged out an inside-the-park home run. Parkerson, who was one of three Colonels to have four hits on the day, joined by Taylor Terrio and Brittany Marcet, laced a shot to left center which was missed by a diving Lady Lion. The ball rolled to the wall, allowing Parkerson to round the bases for her second home run of the season.
 
The third inning saw Nicholls go ahead 5-0 after using four hits and two SLU errors to plate three runs. Cari Spain and Caitlyn Carroll had RBI singles, and the third run came on an error.
 
The Lady Lions finally got to Colonel starting pitcher Jackie Johnson (9-13) in the fifth inning, tagging her for three runs. Megan Moore drove in a run on a base hit before Jessie Browne plated two with a single to right. Johnson (9-13) left after the fifth, allowing eight hits while striking out three.
 
Nicholls got one back in the bottom half as Kayla Prater hit her first home run as a Colonel, sending a shot over the left field wall.
 
Reliever Morgan Skinner allowed a SLU run in the sixth, and ran into some two-out trouble in the seventh. The Lady Lions loaded bases, but Skinner forced a grounder to third to notch her first career save.
 
Spencer Adkinson (4-5) took the loss for SLU, allowing three earned runs on nine hits in 2.2 innings.
 
For the second game, Nicholls cranked out eight hits in the first two frames to grab a 7-0 lead and Spain put the mercy-rule into effect with a RBI single in the bottom of the fourth as Nicholls won 8-0.
 
While the Colonel offense had a huge game, Haydel stole the show in the circle, allowing no hits through four innings. But the Lady Lions quickly ended Haydel's no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the fifth by Moore. Moore would eventually reach third before Haydel struck out Katie Lacour looking for her only punchout of the day.
 
In the first, Nicholls wasted little time in taking the lead, using singles by Terrio and Parkerson and a walk by Danielle Phillips to load the bases. Colleen Levy put Nicholls on the board with an RBI single to center, Marcet drove in a run with a single and Spain finished off the scoring on a single to short.
 
In the second inning, the Colonels loaded the bases again with no outs, and Phillips singled up the middle for a 4-0 lead. SLU changed pitchers, but the results were the same as Marcet earned an RBI on a bases loaded walk, Prater drove in a run on a groundout and one more run crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
 
Spain's single in the fifth came with two outs as Nicholls went on to earn its first run-rule victory of the season at home.