MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Nicholls State University softball team earned two more wins on Saturday in the Black and Gold Tournament, defeating Holy Cross, 4-3, in eight innings before shutting out Akron, 6-0.
Nicholls (3-1) will wrap up play Sunday against Middle Tennessee, which is 4-0 in the tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
Game 1 - Nicholls 4, Holy Cross 3 (8 innings)
For the second time in the first three games, the Colonels went into extra innings, but this time, came away with a 4-3 win over Holy Cross.
Except for an unearned run in the first for the Crusaders, all of the scoring came in the final two innings. Holy Cross took a 2-0 lead in the seventh before Nicholls answered with a pair in the bottom half to send the game into extras. With two outs and two on,
Kasey Frederick delivered a double to plate both runners, tying the score at 2-2.
In the eighth, an error allowed Holy Cross to regain the lead, but the Crusaders also had an error in the bottom half. With the runner starting on second due to the international tiebreaker,
Veronica Villafranco put down a sacrifice to start the inning, and
Kendal Daniels hit a fly ball to center, allowing the runner to come home.
Nicholls then put two runners on after singles by
Samantha Dares and
Brooklyn Devine. The next batter,
Samantha Mracich, reached on an error for the walk-off win.
Devine led the offense with three hits, while
Alexis LaBure earned the win after tossing 1.2 innings of relief.
Amanda Holliday made the start, lasting 6.1 innings with five hits, four strikeouts and allowed an earned run.
Game 2 - Nicholls 6, Akron 0
Corynn Major went 3-for-4 at the plate, and
Megan Landry tossed 5.2 innings as the Colonels swept Saturday's doubleheader with a 6-0 win over Akron in the nightcap.
One of Major's hits came in the third and Nicholls ended up with two runs after a costly error by the Akron centerfielder. In the fourth, Mracich singled to start off the inning. She then stole second, moved to third on a sac bunt and scored on
Moriah Strother's fly to left.
Leading 3-0, Nicholls doubled its lead in the final two innings. Dares had an RBI single in the sixth before Major doubled in a run in the seventh. She then scored on a sacrifice fly by Gianelloni.
Landry allowed only two hits in 5.2 innings and struck out five. LaBure pitched the rest of the game, fanning one while surrendering a pair of hits.
