HAMMOND, La. – The Nicholls State University softball team earned its fifth sweep in Southland Conference play after coming back from a six-hour rain delay to defeat Southeastern Louisiana, 6-1 and 7-3, Saturday at North Oak Park.
With the victories, Nicholls (36-14, 19-4 SLC) enters the final weekend of the season 0.5 games back of first-place McNeese State. The Colonels will close out the regular season at home against third-place Lamar next weekend. Southeastern Louisiana slipped to 22-30 overall and 5-19 in league play.
Game 1 – Nicholls 6, Southeastern Louisiana 1
The Colonels plated four runs in the fourth and senior
Hannah Haydel carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning to lift Nicholls to a 6-1 victory after a six hour and 35 minute rain delay.
Haydel, who tossed her first career no-hitter just a week ago, kept the Lady Lion offense in check until the final inning after the Colonels had already built a 6-0 lead. The no-hitter was broken up on a bunt single by Kinsey Nichols to lead off the frame, and SLU added another hit to end the shutout. But Haydel (20-7) would close out the night with two looking strikeouts for her 20th victory on the year, becoming the first Colonel to reach the plateau since 1998.
The Colonels had six hits in the game, getting one each from six different players.
Danielle Phillips walked and scored twice, and
Amanda Gianelloni had a bunt single in the fourth to help fuel the Colonels' big inning.
Nicholls played small ball to start the inning as Gianelloni's bunt single followed a leadoff walk by Phillips to put two on with no outs.
Gretchen Morgan then laid down a perfect bunt between the pitcher and second baseman, which allowed Phillips to score all the way from second. The Colonels received some help from Southeastern on the next play as the third baseman dropped the ball on a potential force out at the bag. With one out,
Kristen Ahearn pinch-hit and delivered a single to the pitcher to make the score 2-0.
SLU prevented a run from scoring after coming home for a force out, but
Moriah Strother hit a hard grounder underneath the legs of the Lady Lion shortstop to allow two more runners to score for a 4-0 lead.
Haydel, who finished with five strikeouts on the night, issued a walk in the first and had a throwing error in the second before going on to retire the next 13 batters. With the one unearned run in 14 innings pitched for the weekend, Haydel's ERA dropped from 1.46 to 1.39.
Caitlyn VanHemelrck (4-8) was the losing pitcher for SLU, allowing three earned runs on five hits in 5.2 innings. Brittney Wingate drove in the lone run on a RBI groundout in the seventh.
Game 2 – Nicholls 7, Southeastern La. 3
Freshmen dominated Game 2 for the Colonels as
Megan Landry threw a three-hit complete game, while
Gretchen Morgan and
Kasey Frederick combined for five hits and five RBIs as Nicholls extended its winning streak to 11 games with a 7-3 victory.
The teams scored three runs each in the first inning, but Landry shutdown the Lady Lions the rest of the way to improve her record to 15-6 on the season. She finished the game with four strikeouts and allowed just one earned run.
Nicholls loaded the bases in the first inning and Frederick smacked a single up the middle to plate two.
Brooke Morris then recorded one of her two hits in the game, driving in a run on a single to right center for an early 3-0 lead.
Southeastern answered by loading the bases with one out in the bottom half, but a Colonel error led to all three runs. On a grounder to short, Gianelloni threw to home and the ball got away from catcher
Kayla Prater, allowing two runs to score. Prater fired to second to try to get the runner advancing, but Morris immediately threw the ball back to home as the third runner slid in safely at the plate.
In the second,
Haley Parkerson reached base on a hit-by-pitch and stole second. Following a Gianelloni walk, Morgan singled to right and Parkerson easily scored to give Nicholls a 4-3 lead.
Frederick then extended the Colonels' lead with a one-out home run over the left field wall in the fifth inning. It was her second home run of the season, and second for the Colonels in the series.
In the sixth, Nicholls used its patented two-out magic to push the lead to 6-3. Morgan got the rally started with a bloop single to second,
Alexis Huss followed with a base hit to left and Frederick drew a walk to load the bases. Morris then grounded to second, but after the fielder bobbled the ball, she beat the throw to allow the run to score. Morgan then struck again in the seventh with a RBI single.
Nicholls had 11 hits off of Taylor Bishop (12-16), getting two from Phillips and one from
Moriah Strother. Bishop walked five and struck out three.
