LIVE STATS
THIBODAUX, La. – With three weekends remaining in the Southland Conference regular season, six teams sit atop the standings separated by only one game. Two of the league leaders will square off this weekend at Swanner Field as the Nicholls State University softball team will take on Northwestern State for a three-game series.
Friday's opener is scheduled for a 5 p.m. first pitch, with Saturday's doubleheader scheduled for noon. Admission to all home softball games is free of charge.
Heading into the weekend, there is a logjam in the standings with nine teams sporting a .500 or better record in conference. Nicholls (29-13, 12-6 SLC) is one of four teams tied for first, joined by McNeese, Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin. Tied for second are Northwestern State (24-16, 11-7 SLC) and Central Arkansas, while Abilene Christian is 2.0 games out of first. Lamar and Sam Houston State are even at 9-9. With the new eight-team tournament format, one of the squads would be left out of the postseason.
So far this season, Nicholls has just one series against the bottom five teams in the standings – earning a sweep at HBU. Despite playing a tough league schedule, Nicholls has put itself in position to make a run at its first regular-season championship since 1996, which capped a stretch of four titles in six years. With two series at Swanner Field still on the schedule, the Red and Gray will look to continue to play well at home where they have a 12-2 record.
Nicholls swept its doubleheader against Alcorn State Tuesday at home, holding the Lady Braves to just a bunt single in the two games.
Megan Landry and
Amanda Holliday teamed up for a one-hitter in the opener, while
Alexis LaBure recorded a no-hitter in the Colonels' 8-0 six-inning victory.
With nine games remaining, the Colonels lead the Southland in batting average (.298) and earned run average (2.29). Nicholls has also been the toughest lineup to strike out, leading the SLC with just 145 on the year.
The Colonels have four batters with 20 hits in league play, led by freshman
Kelsey Miller with a team-best .377 average in conference.
Kasey Frederick in one of the four and has 16 RBIs helped by four homers.
Kali Clement, who hit three of her five long balls last weekend, is batting .351 in conference, as is freshman
Jewel Lara. In 12 conference games,
Moriah Strother is hitting .462 with five homers and 11 RBIs.
Megan Landry posts a 1.71 ERA in the Southland and a 7-4 record. Overall, she leads the Southland with a 1.81 ERA and is third in strikeouts with 112. Landry has tallied 100 strikeouts in each of her three seasons, putting the junior just outside of the top five on the all-time program list with 375 career Ks.
LaBure is 4-1 in conference with a 2.64 ERA. She has 43 strikeouts in 14 appearances and came up big in the Colonels' series win against Abilene Christian, picking up two victories highlighted by an 11-strikeout game.
The Lady Demons are looking to get back on track as they bring a four-game skid to Thibodaux. NSU was tied for first last weekend before being swept by Southeastern Louisiana at home. They then went to Baton Rouge Tuesday and were run-ruled by No. 15 LSU, 8-0.
Overall, NSU ranks fourth in the Southland in batting average (.284) and third in ERA (2.78). But the Lady Demons have the best ERA in conference play at 1.97, helped by Micaela Bouvier (1.99) and Mikayla Brown (2.08). In last season's series win by NSU in Natchitoches, Brown earned both victories including a five-hitter in the opening 2-1 victory.
Sydney Salmans has a team-high .394 batting average in NSU's 18 league games. Salmans had a four-hit game against UIW to lead the Lady Demons to a series win over the Cardinals. Salmans leads all players with a Southland-high 26 hits. Cayla Jones is batting .516 with four homers and 15 RBIs but has missed the last six conference games. She played against LSU Tuesday, going 0-for-1 with a walk.
PROMOTIONS
Raffle tickets will be sold Friday for a chance to win a 40-pound sack of boiled crawfish. Three winners will be announced, with tickets going for $1 or three for $5.
