HUNTSVILLE, Texas – After a late rally came up short in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Sam Houston State, the Nicholls State University softball team scored three runs in the first inning of the second game and it would be all pitcher
Hannah Haydel needed as the Colonels took the series against the Bearkats with a split on Saturday with a 5-1 win after falling in the first game, 6-4.
With the split, Nicholls ups its record to 16-8 overall and 4-2 in the Southland. Sam Houston finished the day at 8-17 and 1-5.
In game one, Sam Houston gradually built a 6-0 lead before Nicholls threatened to send the game into extra innings with a four-run seventh.
Nicholls recorded five of its 11 hits in the seventh, starting with a single by
Brooke Morris.
Alexis Huss then drove in Morris with a single to left and
Haley Parkerson made the deficit 6-2 with an RBI groundout. With two outs,
Haley Stevenson, who had two hits in the game, drove in the third run before Nicholls added one more on an error. But with
Payton Gremillion at the plate as the tying run, Sam Houston forced a groundout to first by Gremillion to escape with the win.
Along with Stevenson, Gremillion and Huss added two hits each.
Jackie Johnson (4-5) suffered the loss, allowing four earned runs on four hits in 3.1 innings.
Taylor Hastings pitched the rest of the game, surrendering four hits and two unearned runs.
In game two, the Colonels scored at least one run in the first three innings and Sam Houston could only muster an unearned run in the sixth against Haydel as the junior improved to 9-3 on the year.
Sam Houston managed just two hits against Haydel, who struck out one batter in seven innings of work. With the Colonels leading 5-0, the Bearkats scored their only run after a leadoff error led to an RBI groundout by Hillary Adams.
Nicholls jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first, scoring on a double by
Kayla Prater and a two-run single by
Kimmie Rodriguez. After the first two batters were retired, the Colonels drew two walks to keep the inning alive. Prater delivered a shot to left center for the first run before Rodriguez's single capped the scoring.
In the second, Parkerson walked, stole second and scored on a single by Morris. The next inning, a leadoff double by Prater led to an RBI single by Parkerson to give Nicholls a comfortable 5-0 lead.
Sam Houston's hits came in the third and fourth innings, but the Bearkats were unable to produce any runs. In the seventh, Haydel sat the Bearkats down in order to finish the game, clinching the series for the Colonels, two games to one.
Morris, Prater and Rodriguez all had two hits, and Prater led the team with two runs scored.
Haley Barros (1-6) lasted only 0.2 innings for Sam Houston and took the loss.
Nicholls returns to action on Tuesday, March 17, at No. 3 LSU. First pitch at Tiger Park is scheduled for 6 p.m.
