DENTON, Texas – The Nicholls State University softball team was on the wrong side of a doubleheader sweep as the Colonels were defeated by Tulsa, 11-3, and UT Arlington, 4-1, on Friday to open play in the North Texas Invitational.
The Colonels (9-6) will look to bounce back Saturday with two games against Tulsa (12 p.m.) and North Texas (4:30 p.m.).
Game 1 – Tulsa 11, Nicholls 3 (6 innings)
Trailing 4-0, the Colonels rallied in the fifth with three runs to cut the deficit to one, but Tulsa answered in a big way by plating six and went on to claim an 11-3 run-rule victory.
Nicholls had seven hits in the loss, led by
Samantha Mracich with two.
Bailey Hughes drove in the first run in the fifth on a single to center, and
Veronica Villafranco made it 4-3 with a two-run single to right.
But Tulsa (7-7) got the three runs back with one swing as Tori Stafford hit a three-run homer in the bottom half off of
Alexis LaBure (2-3), who lasted 4.0 innings with 10 hits and seven earned runs. Another run scored on an RBI double and two more came in on Colonel errors.
Leading 10-3 in the sixth, Tulsa ended the game with a run on the Colonels' third error of the day.
Game 2 – UT Arlington 4, Nicholls 1
A late solo home run by
Kasey Frederick was all the offense the Colonels could muster together in their 4-1 setback to UTA.
Nicholls had three errors again, which led to the Mavericks' first two runs of the game. UTA went up 1-0 in the first after two errors on Sandra Mendoza's stolen base allowed her to score. In the fourth, a miscue by pitcher
Megan Landry (5-3) was followed by two hits and a groundout for a 2-0 lead.
At the plate, the Colonels were unable to capitalize on leadoff singles by
Samantha Dares and
Kali Clement in the third and fifth innings. JoJo Valencia went the distance for UTA, scattering three hits and struck out two.
Landry was tagged with the loss, surrendering six hits in 4.2 innings and struck out six. Her two earned runs came in the fifth after a hit-by-pitch and a single put two on for Aileen Garcia, who delivered a two-run base knock.
Valencia (3-4) was one out away from the shutout before Frederick hit her second home run of the season. Dares then hit a grounder for the final out of the game.
