THIBODAUX, La. – With only two series remaining, the Nicholls State University softball team has positioned itself for a chance at the Southland Conference regular season title. The Colonels will play their final road series of the season at Southeastern Louisiana, starting Friday at 6 p.m.
The series will conclude on Saturday with a 12 p.m. doubleheader. Links for live stats and video can be accessed on geauxcolonels.com.
After winning eight straight games, including back-to-back sweeps in conference, the Colonels (33-14, 16-4 SLC) are 1.5 games back of McNeese State for first place and 0.5 games ahead of Lamar for third. McNeese and Lamar square off this weekend in Beaumont, Texas, and the Colonels will host Lamar next weekend for the season finale. McNeese closes out the regular season with Central Arkansas, which is fifth in the standings.
Nicholls claimed its fourth sweep in conference play last weekend against Northwestern State. The series was started by senior ace
Hannah Haydel's no-hitter and the Colonels fed off of that momentum to sweep Saturday's doubleheader. Haydel, who was 3-0 with a save and a 1.67 ERA last week, went on to be named pitcher of the week by the Southland Conference and LSWA.
To say the pitching by Haydel and freshman
Megan Landry has been outstanding this season would be an understatement. The duo has combined to pitch 93 percent of the innings for the Colonel pitching staff, which ranks 10th in the NCAA in earned run average at 1.97. Haydel is 17th in the country in ERA at 1.46, while Landry also ranks in the top 100 with a 1.95 mark – good for 64th. Haydel and Landry are also just two of six players in the Southland to surpass 100 strikeouts as Haydel is second with 121 and Landry is sixth at 104.
As a team, the Colonels moved up to third place in the SLC in batting at .295. Nicholls currently has two players in the top 10 in batting average – freshman
Amanda Gianelloni leads the team with a .399 average, followed by
Danielle Phillips who is 10th at .375. Gianelloni enters this weekend's action with a 15-game on-base streak and a 10-game hitting streak.
Another freshman,
Veronica Villafranco, has played a huge role in the Colonels' recent hitting surge. Since being inserted into the starting lineup at designated hitter seven games ago, Villafranco leads the team with 13 hits and eight RBIs, and her .520 batting average trails only Gianelloni's .571 clip.
The Lady Lions (22-27, 5-16 SLC) enter the weekend fighting for a spot in the postseason as they are currently in second-to-last place in the standings. Southeastern was swept by McNeese in its last series, despite a valiant effort in game one's 3-1 loss. The Cowgirls went on to win the next two by a combined 15 runs.
Southeastern ranks sixth in the Southland in batting average (.280), led by the league's top hitter in average – Katie Lacour. On the season, Lacour is batting .432 with five triples – which is tied with Gianelloni for second in the league – and four doubles. Kinsey Nichols is also hitting over .400 on the season as she ranks fourth in the league at .401.
Both Lacour and Nichols lead a Lady Lion assault on the base paths as SLU ranks second in the NCAA in stolen bases. Southeastern has swiped 146 bags on the year, which is 38 more than the second-leading team in the Southland, McNeese State. Lacour is fourth in the nation in stolen bases with a Southland-best 48, and is followed in the conference rankings by Nichols (33) and Jaquelyn Ramon (29).
The pitching staff posts a collective 3.93 ERA, headed by Taylor Bishop who is 12-14 with a 3.20 ERA. Bishop has been the workhorse for SLU, tossing over 100 innings more than the next pitcher. She has 81 strikeouts on the season and has held opponents to a .254 average.
Following the final road series, Nicholls will host Lamar for a three-game set, beginning Friday, May 6. The Colonels will honor their seven-member senior class on Saturday.
