SAN ANTONIO – The Nicholls State University softball team cranked out 14 hits and Jackie Johnson tossed a complete game four-hitter as the Colonels defeated Incarnate Word, 8-1, on Saturday at Cardinals Field to take the series two games to one.
 
The victory keeps Nicholls (24-16, 10-8 SLC) in sixth place in the Southland Conference standings and more importantly, the Colonels maintain the final spot in the postseason tournament with only three series remaining. UIW slipped to 9-31 on the year and 3-15 in conference.
 
Johnson (7-7) was phenomenal in her second start of the weekend, limiting the Cardinals to just one unearned run in the third inning. UIW loaded the bases in the frame, but Johnson got out of the jam on a fly out which started a stretch of 10 straight retired batters. She finished the game with four strikeouts and just two walks.
 
At the plate, five Colonels had two-hit games, led by Haley Parkerson with two hits and two RBIs. Brooke Morris, Payton Gremillion, Kayla Prater and Jessica Taylor joined Parkerson with two hits, while Kristen Ahearn drove in two runs, including one on a solo home run in the third that made the score 1-0.
 
The 1-0 lead was short-lived as UIW took advantage of a Haley Stevenson error to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. But the Colonels used three hits and a pair of bases loaded walks in the fourth to go up 3-1. Laura Neil, Taylor and Morris all singled off Brooke DuBois (4-9) to load the bases, setting up run-scoring walks by Danielle Phillips and Ahearn.
 
In the fifth, UIW brought in Kristin Hebert to pitch and Nicholls tagged her for two runs. Prater singled and came home on a double to left center by Parkerson, and Morris made the score 5-1 on an RBI single to left.
 
With Johnson still holding UIW in check, the offense continued to pour it on as five hits in the sixth led to three more runs. Prater drove in a run on a base hit to center, and Taylor and Parkerson each recorded an RBI on infield singles.
 
The Cardinals finally ended Johnson's retired batter streak with a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, but it would be the only runner to reach as she retired the next three batters to earn the complete game victory.
 
The 14 hits by the Colonels was their third consecutive double-digit effort and 13th of the season. In the series against UIW, Nicholls batted .381 while the pitching staff held the Cardinals to a .253 average.
 
Nicholls will continue its nine-game road swing with a doubleheader at Jackson State on Wednesday, April 15. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.