THIBODAUX, La. – Tied for second place, the Nicholls State University softball team and Central Arkansas will battle it out this weekend in a three-game Southland Conference series at Swanner Field.
The series starts Friday, March 30 with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Saturday's finale is scheduled for 12 p.m.
The Colonels (21-9, 7-2 SLC) remained undefeated at home with a midweek 2-0 victory over Southern Miss Wednesday night. Nicholls swept the Golden Eagles for the season, winning in Hattiesburg in February, 11-2.
The series loss at Southeastern Louisiana knocked the Colonels into a tie with UCA (16-13, 7-2 SLC), and both teams are 1.0 games back of Northwestern State. The Bears are coming off a sweep of Sam Houston State last weekend at home.
Nicholls was flawless with its defense against Southern Miss, recording no errors in the victory. The Colonels have committed zero errors 10 times this season, leading to eight victories. The pitching staff also had back-to-back shutouts as
Amanda Holliday earned the win and
Alexis LaBure closed it out with a save. Each did the same in Saturday's win over SLU.
The duo is two of the three Colonel pitchers that make up the Southland's best pitching staff, which ranks first by a large margin in ERA. Led by
Megan Landry's 1.81 ERA, the Colonels have a collective 2.07 ERA with Northwestern State ranking second at 2.87. Landry has a 12-5 record, Holliday is 4-1, and LaBure is 5-3 with five saves.
The Colonels' top three hitters each had at least one hit in the win over USM, with
Amanda Gianelloni (.370 BA) and
Kasey Frederick (.356) going 2-for-3. Freshman
Kelsey Miller (.338) also reached on a single, extending her hitting streak to 10 games.
UCA is batting .271 as a squad, led by Libby Morris. In 29 games, Morris has a .392 batting average with nine doubles, four home runs, and 24 RBIs. Morris had a 2-run single in the seventh to tie the game at 6-6 against Sam Houston before the Bears went on to take the opener. Rio Sanchez has been the top pitcher for UCA, posting a 7-4 record with a 2.37 ERA.
The Colonels have won eight of the last nine meetings against the Bears. Last season, Nicholls dropped the opener in Conway before winning the next two to take the series. The teams squared off in the Southland Conference Tournament, which was also in Conway, and Nicholls won, 4-2, to advance to the championship game.
