OXFORD, Miss. – The Nicholls State University softball team scored five runs in the first inning against Austin Peay and the pitching took care of the rest as the Colonels closed out the Red and Blue Classic with a 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon.
 
Amanda Gianelloni and Sydney Bourg led the Colonels (14-9) with two hits each, with Gianelloni driving in three on a bases loaded double in the first. Nicholls scored the first run on an error and Gianelloni and Bourg recorded a double steal which allowed Gianelloni to score to cap the inning.
 
Samanatha Mracich (2-0) made her second career start in the circle and held Austin Peay (6-7) without a run through the first three innings. In the fourth, ASPU used a solo shot by Danielle Liermann to break up the shutout.
 
Nicholls got the run back in the sixth on a pinch hit single by Samantha Dares. Jackie Johnson, who relieved Mracich after four innings, tossed three hitless innings to earn the save.
 
Mracich allowed four hits in the game and struck out three. Johnson fanned five batters and walked two.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Colonels will have no midweek games before opening conference play against HBU for a three-game series at home, starting Friday, March 10 with a single game at 6 p.m.