THIBODAUX, La. – After battling weather all weekend, the Nicholls State University softball team was finally able to get two games in against Southeastern Louisiana with a doubleheader on Sunday, and the teams would split the decisions as the Lady Lions won the first game, 2-1, before the Colonels took the second, 5-2, at the Colonel Softball Complex.
With the split, Nicholls (25-20, 11-12 SLC) enters the final weekend of the regular season a game back of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the final spot in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Colonels close out the season with a three-game series at Lamar, while the Islanders host Incarnate Word.
Following Sunday's games, the Colonels honored their lone senior of the 2015 class, outfielder/designated player
Laura Neil.
Game 1 – Southeastern Louisiana 2, Nicholls 1 In a game that featured a five-hour weather delay yesterday, play resumed Sunday and the Colonels'
Hannah Haydel came out on the wrong end of a pitchers' duel as Southeastern won, 2-1.
A throwing error in the second led to SLU's first run and the Lady Lions made it 2-0 on an extremely rare sacrifice foul out to first base. SLU's Amber Sather hit a blooper into foul territory and
Alexis Huss chased it down, but her momentum carried her towards the fence and Katie Lacour raced home to beat the throw.
Taylor Bishop (13-6) allowed a single by
Brooke Morris in the first, but did not surrender another hit until the fifth inning. The hit would be a big one as
Kimmie Rodriguez sent a liner over the left field wall for her fourth long ball of the season, making the score 2-1.
Kayla Prater then reached on a bunt single and stole second with one out, but was left stranded on second base.
With one down in the sixth, Nicholls looked to have something going as
Payton Gremillion singled to left. But the next batter, Morris, ripped a shot to short on a hit-and-run that was caught and Gremillion was doubled up.
Bishop retired the Colonels in order in the seventh to give SLU the victory.
Despite the loss, Haydel allowed just three hits and struck out six in seven innings of work.
Game 2 – Nicholls 5, Southeastern Louisiana 2 The Colonels jumped out to a five-run lead after three innings and it was more than enough runs for
Taylor Hastings as Nicholls earned a split on Sunday with a 5-2 victory in Game 2.
Both teams had seven hits in the game, with Morris and
Danielle Phillips leading Nicholls with two each. Phillips legged out a two-out triple in the first, which led to a bases loaded two-run single by
Jessica Taylor. After battling off 10 pitches, Taylor singled to give Nicholls an early 2-0 lead.
In the third, Morris and Phillips singled before a walk by Prater loaded the bases for Rodriguez. With the count full, Rodriguez found a seam up the middle, bringing home two more runs. Taylor would cap the inning with a sacrifice fly to make the count 5-0.
The Lady Lions tagged Hastings (6-2) for four hits through the first three innings, but were never able to crack the scoring column. In the fourth, however, SLU scored its first run after a bases loaded error made the score 5-1.
Hastings ran into trouble in the seventh after a leadoff walk and a double put runners in scoring position with no outs.
Jackie Johnson came into the game in a save situation and retired the first batter on a shallow fly to right. After a sacrifice fly made it 5-2, Johnson forced another flyout to right to end the game.
Playing in her final game at home, Neil went 0-for-3 at the plate but was robbed of a hit in the fifth when Lady Lion Sydney Booker made an outstanding diving grab in shallow left field.
