BEAUMONT, Texas – Needing to win both games to make the Southland Conference Tournament, the Nicholls State University softball team held a late three-run lead over Lamar in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader, but the Lady Cardinals scored five runs in the sixth to win, 9-7, and carried that momentum to a 10-2 mercy-rule victory in Game 2 at the Lamar Softball Complex.
With the losses, Nicholls finishes its season with a 26-22 overall record and a 12-14 mark in conference play. Despite missing the postseason for the fifth straight season, the Colonels finished with a winning record for the first time since 2010. The 2015 squad, which was predicted to finish 11th in the preseason polls, loses only one senior,
Laura Neil.
Game 1 – Lamar 9, Nicholls 7 The Colonels headed into the bottom of the sixth with a three-run cushion, but errant pitching and a timely base hit led to five runs by Lamar as Nicholls was eliminated from postseason contention with a 9-7 loss in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
Nicholls led 5-2 after four innings before Lamar cut the deficit to 5-4 with a pair of runs in the fifth. However, the Colonels pushed the lead back to three after
Danielle Phillips came through with a two-run single in the sixth.
In the bottom half, the Colonels elected to take out
Hannah Haydel, who had pitched all five innings on Saturday and had a complete game in Friday's win. Sophomore
Jackie Johnson came in and retired the first two batters before running into trouble. Johnson issued four consecutive walks to allow Lamar to score, bringing the count to 7-5 Colonels.
Haydel came back into pitch and beamed the first batter, allowing another run to come home. The next batter, Brynn Baca, completed her 4-for-4 day with a base hit up the middle, bringing in two more runs as Lamar took an 8-7 lead. The Lady Cardinals completed the inning with another run on a double steal.
The Colonels put two on with two outs in the seventh, but a groundout to third would end the game.
Nicholls out-hit LU, 14-8, led by a 3-for-4 day by
Jessica Taylor.
Payton Gremillion, Phillips,
Haley Stevenson and
Alexis Huss all added two hits with most of the damage coming in the Colonels' five-run second. The Colonels had five hits in the frame to take a 5-2 lead.
Haydel finished the game with five strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work, allowing four earned runs on eight hits. For Lamar, Lauren Dannelley (7-8) picked up the win after pitching six innings of relief.
Game 2 – Lamar 10, Nicholls 2 (5 innings) Lamar used a five-run third to take a 6-2 lead before ending the game in the fifth with four runs to win the series over Nicholls with a 10-2 victory in five innings.
Taylor Hastings (6-3) was tagged with the loss, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits and walked eight. At the plate, Neil paced the Colonels with a 2-for-2 day.
The Colonels took a 1-0 lead in the first when Phillips drove in a run on an infield single, but Lamar tied it up in the second on a RBI triple by Casey Cromwell. Neil gave Nicholls back the lead at 2-1 with a solo home run to start the third.
But the Lady Cardinals used four hits in the bottom half to take a 6-2 advantage. After two RBI singles, Taylor Duck sent a two-run shot out of the park to cap the scoring.
The score would remain the same until the bottom of the fifth when Lamar had four runs cross the plate to end the game via mercy rule. Two runs came home on a double by Baylie Comeaux and Shannon Sain ended the contest with a RBI single to left center.
