HAMMOND, La. – After an offensive eruption in the first game, the Nicholls State University softball team relied on the pitching of senior Hannah Haydel in the second as the Colonels picked up a pair of victories in the Lion Classic on Saturday to improve to 4-0 on the season.
 
Nicholls opened the day with a 13-4 run-rule win in five innings against Tennessee State, and picked up their second in a 3-1 decision over Buffalo. The Colonels finish the weekend on Sunday against Tennessee-Martin at 12 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m., but was moved up to accommodate travel for UT-Martin.
 
Game 1 – Nicholls 13, Tennessee State 4 (5 innings)
 
The Colonels cranked out 17 hits against Tennessee State and senior Alexis Huss hit a grand slam in the top of the fifth to help Nicholls to its second consecutive run-rule win.
 
Freshman Amanda Gianelloni went 4-for-4 with three RBIs, while Brooke Morris and Payton Gremillion had three hits each. Huss and Danielle Phillips rounded out the leaders with two hits each.
 
The Colonels scored in each of the five frames, building a 6-0 lead after the top of the third inning. Tennessee State tagged Colonel starter Taylor Hastings for two runs in the third, and added two more on a single off Megan Landry.
 
Nicholls quickly got three of the runs back in the fourth. Phillips drove in the first run with a RBI single up the middle, and Gianelloni followed with an RBI double. Moriah Strother drew a bases loaded walk to give Nicholls a 9-4 lead.
 
Following Huss' grand slam in the fifth, Landry retired TSU in order to improve to 2-0 on the weekend. Landry pitched 2.1 innings of relieve, allowing one hit and struck out two. Hastings lasted 2.2 innings, surrendering four runs on four hits.
 
Game 2 – Nicholls 3, Buffalo 1
 
Hannah Haydel tossed her second complete game in as many days as the Colonels held off Buffalo for a 3-1 victory.
 
Nicholls finished with nine hits in the game, but didn't crack the scoring column until the third when Kayla Prater hit a solo bomb for a 1-0 lead. The score stayed the same until Nicholls added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh.
 
With two down, Amanda Gianelloni crushed a  triple to the left center fence to drive in Haley Parkerson. On the next play, Strother beat out an infield single to give Haydel a 3-1 cushion.
 
Buffalo's Kenzie Koch led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and scored with two outs on a base knock by Danielle Lallos. With the tying run at the plate, Haydel got Courtney Gilbert to fly out to right for the final out.
 
Haydel pitched all seven innings, surrendering seven hits and struck out seven. Two of her strikeouts came in key situations as she left the bases loaded in the fourth and stranded two in the fifth with another K. Buffalo's Ally Power took the loss, tossing 7.0 innings with nine hits and five punchouts.
 
Gremillion and Phillips led Nicholls on offense with two hits each.