THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team begins postseason play Tuesday evening, May 10, as the No. 7 Colonels take on No. 2 Southeastern in the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament at North Oak Park in Hammond, Louisiana.

Nicholls (12-36, 4-14 SLC) and SLU (37-14, 14-4) will be the third game of the day with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. No. 4 Northwestern State and No. 5 UIW start things off at noon while No. 3 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 6 HBU are slated for 2:30 p.m. Top seed McNeese received a bye and will play its first game on Wednesday.

The double elimination tournament wraps up on Friday with the championship round. 

Nicholls will play in the Southland Conference Tournament for the 14th time in program history and making its first appearance since 2019. The 2020 edition was canceled and the Colonels fell short of making the field last season. This year marks the first postseason where all seven teams will compete in the tournament.

The Colonels are 27-23 all-time after going 2-2 in the '19 Tournament. As a 2-seed, Nicholls was ousted in the championship round for a third consecutive season. After dropping title matches against McNeese in '17 and '18, Sam Houston edged the Colonels for the tournament title. 

All-Southland honoree Melise Gossen heads the Colonel offense with a .289 batting average. She totaled 15 doubles on the year and ranks second in the league. As a team, Nicholls is batting .249.

The pitching staff ranked last in the league in ERA (6.03) and opponent batting average (.341), but had some strong showings in the latter part of the season. Three came from sophomore Brittney Turner as she tossed a complete game in a 3-1 win over AMCC. She then went on the road and allowed a single run in a complete effort at HBU, and wrapped up the series with five shutout innings in a 1-0 victory. 

All games will be broadcast on ESPN+

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)
Tuesday, May 10
Game 1 - No. 4 Northwestern State vs. No. 5 UIW - Noon
Game 2 - No. 3 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. No. 6 HBU - 2:30 p.m.
Game 3 - No. 2 Southeastern vs. No. 7 Nicholls - 5 p.m.

Wednesday, May 11
Game 4 - No. 1 McNeese vs. Game 1 Winner - 11 a.m.
Game 5 - Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner - 1:30 p.m.
Game 6 - Game 2 Loser vs. Game 3 Loser - 4 p.m.
Game 7 - Game 1 Loser vs. Game 5 Loser - 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 12
Game 8 - Game 4 Loser vs. Game 6 Winner - 11 a.m.
Game 9 - Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner - 1:30 p.m.
Game 10 - Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner - 4 p.m. 
Game 11 - Game 9 Loser vs. Game 10 Winner - 6:30 p.m.

Friday, May 13
Game 12 - Game 9 Winner vs. Game 11 Winner - Noon
Game 13 - Game 9 Winner vs. Game 11 Winner*
*CHAMPIONSHIP REMATCH NECESSARY IF GAME 11 WINNER WINS GAME 12 - TIME TBD