LORMAN, Miss. – The Nicholls State University softball team picked up a pair of wins on Wednesday as the Colonels swept Alcorn State in a doubleheader at the ASU Softball Complex, winning 5-3 and 15-8 over the Lady Braves.
With the sweep, Nicholls improved to 20-13 on the year, while Acorn State slipped to 2-21. The Colonels also swept the Lady Braves for the season, winning all three matchups.
Nicholls will take on one of the top teams in the Southland for the second consecutive weekend as they host McNeese State for a three-game series. Friday's opener is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Game 1 – Nicholls 5, Alcorn State 3 Sophomore
Taylor Hastings struck out a career-high nine batters and
Kristen Ahearn went 3-for-4 at the plate as the Colonels defeated the Lady Braves, 5-3, in game one.
Hastings (4-2) scattered seven hits in seven innings of work and allowed three earned runs. She gave up a run in the first on a double and the Colonels found themselves down 1-0 after three innings of play.
In the fourth, Nicholls took the lead after
Jessica Taylor tripled to bring in two runs. It started a string of three consecutive innings with at least one run, with Ahearn adding a RBI on an infield single in the fifth.
Alcorn answered with a run in the bottom half, but the Colonels scored two more in the sixth to go up 5-2.
Kayla Prater drove in the first run on a triple, and she then scored on a sacrifice fly by
Haley Stevenson.
A leadoff triple in the bottom of the sixth led to a run for Alcorn, but Hastings would retire the Lady Braves in order in the seventh to preserve the win.
Nicholls finished with nine hits, getting three from Ahearn and two from
Danielle Phillips.
Game 2 – Nicholls 15, Alcorn State 8 The Colonels scored a combined 13 runs in two innings to knock off Alcorn State in a high-scoring 15-8 decision.
Both team finished with eight hits and nine walks, but Nicholls took advantage of six errors by the Lady Braves to win the game. At the plate, Prater was the lone Colonel with multi-hits, finishing 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs. Stevenson also tripled and was responsible for three RBIs.
Nicholls scored seven runs in the first inning, despite recording just two hits. Prater tripled a run in and
Caitlyn Carroll brought a run home on a single, but the other five runs came either on an error, passed ball or wild pitch.
Alcorn put a dent in the lead after scoring three runs in the third to trail 7-4, but Nicholls quickly got two of the runs back in the top of the fourth after two errors and more unsteady pitching by the Lady Braves.
In the sixth, Nicholls all but put the game away with six runs to take a 15-6 lead. The Colonels had five hits in the frame, scoring the first four runs on a 2-run triple by Stevenson and RBI singles by
Haley Parkerson and Ahearn. The final two came home on a passed ball and an error.
Alcorn added two runs in the bottom half to make the final.
The Colonels trotted out three pitchers, including redshirt sophomore
Cari Spain who made her career debut in the circle.
Jackie Johnson started the game, allowing four runs on two hits in 2.2 innings, while Spain gave up two runs on five hits in 1.2 innings. Hastings closed out the game, tossing 2.1 innings with two hits and two runs allowed. Johnson led the trio with five strikeouts, Hastings had four and Spain added three.
