RUSTON, La. - After letting the lead slip away in the final inning of Saturday's opening game of a doubleheader, the Nicholls State University softball team was unable to avoid the sweep as the Colonels dropped both games against Louisiana Tech, 5-4 and 8-0 (5 innings).
The nonconference series concludes 35 consecutive road/neutral games for the Colonels (10-25). They will have their first home series next weekend against Southeastern.
Game 1 - LA Tech 6, Nicholls 5
Nicholls built a 5-2 lead in the fifth before Louisiana Tech scored in each of the final three innings for the comeback victory.
The Colonels totaled 11 hits, paced by a 3-for-3 outing by
Kennedy Hebert. She and
Samantha Gwiazda each drove in a run in the opening inning.
After La. Tech tied the game in the bottom half,
Melise Gossen doubled in a run in the second for a 3-2 advantage. In the fifth, Gwiazda singled for two more runs to push the lead to 5-2.
Syndee Shelton and
Alexa Poche' led off the inning with base hits.
But the Lady Bulldogs began their comeback in the fifth. An RBI single led to a pitching change for the Colonels as
Paris Lehman took over for
Taryn Westbrook, who tossed a solid 4.1 innings with two earned runs on six hits. Lehman limited the damage by getting the two final outs to strand two runners.
Louisiana Tech scored another in the sixth before picking up the walk-off victory in the seventh. An error on a steal attempt led the one run, then Lin Edwards hit a sacrifice fly for the game-winner.
Along with Hebert, Gossen and
Danielle Duplay had multi-hit efforts in the loss.
Game 2 - LA Tech 8, Nicholls 0 (5 inn.)
Emma Hutchinson limited the Colonel offense to just two hits as Louisiana Tech completed the sweep with an 8-0 run-rule victory.
Trailing 3-0, Nicholls received its first hit of the day on a one-out single by Gossen. Gwiazda added a base hit in the fifth before Louisiana Tech hit two homers in the bottom half, ending the game in five innings.
Brittney Turner took the loss, allowing four earned runs on nine hits. Westbrook pitched the final inning, giving up a solo shot to Edwards before Amanda Gonzalez hit the walk-off 3-run homer.
Hutchinson struck out five in the victory and walked one.
