SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Nicholls State University softball team earned a split in its Friday doubleheader at Incarnate Word with a pair of 5-4 decisions, rallying in game one for a victory before another late comeback came up short in the night cap.
Nicholls (23-16, 9-8 SLC) and UIW (9-30, 3-14 SLC) will wrap up the three-game set on Saturday at 1 p.m. Live stats and live audio links can be accessed on geauxcolonels.com.
Game 1 – Nicholls 5, UIW 4 The Colonels had twice as many hits as UIW in the series opener and used four of them in the sixth inning to plate four runs, as Nicholls picked up a 5-4 win over the Cardinals.
Neither team scored through the first three innings and UIW held a 2-1 lead heading into the sixth. The Colonels tied the game after a run came home on a throwing error and
Danielle Phillips gave Nicholls a 3-2 lead with an RBI single. With two on and two out,
Kristen Ahearn delivered a two-run double to left, which turned out to be the difference in the game.
UIW answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to trim the deficit to 5-4, but
Hannah Haydel would come in to pitch a perfect seventh to earn her second save of the season.
Nicholls had 12 hits in the victory, led by Phillips and
Jessica Taylor with three each.
Brooke Morris added two hits as she and Ahearn both recorded a double. Taylor was responsible for the game's first run as she singled up the middle in the fourth to drive in
Payton Gremillion.
Jackie Johnson (6-7) picked up the win, tossing 6.0 innings with four earned runs on six hits. Two of the runs came in the fourth on a two-run single by Natalie Duron, and in the sixth, UIW added one on a RBI single and one on a wild pitch.
Shelbi Swenson led UIW with two hits, while Kristin Hebert (5-14) took the loss in seven innings of work.
Game 2 – UIW 5, Nicholls 4
A three-run home run in the first inning put UIW ahead and despite a late rally by the Colonels, the Cardinals never relinquished the lead as Nicholls fell, 5-4.
Trailing 5-2 in the final inning, Nicholls pieced together a late comeback, started on a single by Phillips.
Kimmie Rodriguez followed a groundout with a walk to put two runners on, and after a fielder's choice, Taylor hit a single to right to bring home both runners, making the score 5-4. With the tying run at first, Brooke DuBois (4-8) would end the game by forcing a groundout to second.
The Colonels outhit UIW, 11-10, led by three from Gremillion.
Haley Parkerson,
Haley Stevenson and Taylor chipped in with two each, and Taylor's two RBIs led the team.
Haydel (12-7) took the loss, giving up four earned runs on 10 hits in 6.0 innings. She struck out one and walked two.
Nicholls cracked the scoring column in the first after Parkerson doubled to lead off the inning and came home on an error. But the Cardinals put two on in their first at-bat on a single and a walk, setting up a three-run homer by Swenson.
The Colonels got one back in the second when Rodriguez homered for the third time this season, making the score 3-2. In the fourth, Nicholls put two on after singles by Taylor and Parkerson with only one out, but both runners were left stranded.
UIW tagged Haydel for insurance runs in the fifth and sixth, which proved to be needed after the Colonels' scored two in the seventh.
The Cardinals were led on offense by Taylor Johnson with three hits and a run scored.
