LIVE STATS - Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University softball team heads into the final weekend of play looking to secure its first Southland Conference Tournament berth since 2010 as the Colonels take on Lamar in a three-game series at the Lamar Softball Complex.
Friday's opener is scheduled for 6 p.m., with a Saturday doubleheader slated for 3 p.m. Live stats courtesy of Lamar will be available for all three games and can be access by visiting geauxcolonels.com.
Nicholls (25-20, 11-12 SLC) heads into the regular season finale one game back in the standings for the sixth and final spot in next week's SLC Tournament and will need to win at least two games to keep their postseason hopes alive.
The Colonels trail Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the sixth seed and are 2.0 games behind fifth-seed Lamar (22-25, 12-9 SLC). If Nicholls sweeps Lamar, the Colonels would clinch a postseason berth no matter what A&M-Corpus Christi does in its series against UIW. If the Colonels drop a game to Lamar, LU would clinch a spot and the Colonels would need last-place UIW to sweep the Islanders. If the Colonels lose two or more games to Lamar, they will be eliminated from contention.
It was has been a familiar reoccurrence this season, the Colonels not only had to battle their opponent last weekend, but had to deal with rainy weather as well. After Friday's opener against Southeastern Louisiana was lost due to severe weather in the area, the teams started play on Saturday before rain came through and caused the game to be suspended. The team finally got in two games on Sunday, with SLU winning 2-1 in the first and Nicholls taking the second, 5-2.
Rain has not only had an effect on the Colonels' season, but it has played a part in the conference standings. Only two teams in the Southland, UIW and Abilene Christian, have played all 24 scheduled conference games this season, and both of the teams are still ineligible for postseason play. Lamar and Central Arkansas have only played 21 games after electing not to play their series two weekends ago due to the weather.
Nicholls heads to Beaumont with the league's third-best batting average at .299, but ranks sixth in Southland play at .297. During the Colonels' recent four-game skid, the offense was held to four or less hits in each game. Nicholls recorded seven hits in its win on Sunday over Southeastern.
Sophomore
Brooke Morris leads Nicholls at the plate as she ranks sixth in the Southland in batting in league play at .434. For the season, Morris is batting .372 and is followed closely by freshman
Payton Gremillion (.354) and sophomore
Haley Stevenson (.346). Junior
Kayla Prater (.294) leads the Colonels with 34 RBIs.
In the circle,
Hannah Haydel heads the staff with a 12-10 record, 99 strikeouts and a 2.90 earned run average. Haydel has put together a strong junior campaign as she ranks in the top eight in seven different pitching categories in league play, including third in strikeouts with 59. Sophomore
Taylor Hastings improved her record to 6-2 last weekend with a solid outing against SLU and
Jackie Johnson has a 7-8 record with 74 strikeouts.
Lamar comes into the series losers of seven of its last nine games and will be looking to end a five-game skid. Opponents have had their most success early on against the Lady Cardinals as LU has been outscored in the first inning this season, 63-28. In their last conference series, the Lady Cardinals were swept at McNeese State, losing 10-7, 6-1 and in extra innings, 5-4.
Leading Lamar at the plate has been Stephanie Meeuwsen with a .380 batting average, followed by Casey Cromwell at .321. Cromwell has a team-high eight home runs, while Shannon Sain leads the squad with 33 RBIs.
Freshman Laura Napoli has been the workhorse for LU in the circle as she has tossed 173 innings, posting a 16-15 record with a 3.80 ERA. Lauren Dannelley has tallied the other six wins, going 6-8 with a 4.65 ERA.
Lamar swept Nicholls last season in a rain-shortened two-game series in Thibodaux, winning 3-1 and 12-3.
