BATON ROUGE, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team put up a valiant effort against a pair of nationally-ranked programs but came up short in a 6-3 loss to No. 19 Oregon State and a 4-3 setback against host No. 20 LSU on Sunday at Tiger Park.
With the losses, Nicholls fell to 1-3 on the season. They return to action next weekend with five games in the Mardi Gras Mambo in Youngsville, Louisiana.
GAME 1 - #20 Oregon State 6, Nicholls 3
Oregon State broke a 3-3 all tie in the fourth with a run-scoring triple and added a 2-run home run for a 6-3 victory.
Nicholls had five hits in the loss with
Alexa Poche' and
Abby Andersen notching two each.
Erin Krause accounted for two of the three Colonel RBIs.
Molly Yoo threw 5.2 innings, allowing six earned runs on eight hits. She picked up one strikeout and walked three.
OSU struck first with a 2-run homer in the opening frame by Frankie Hammoude, but Nicholls cut the deficit in half on a Krause sac fly.
After the Beavers made it 3-1 in the third, the Colonels tied the game with a pair of runs. Krause again delivered, this time with an RBI double. Poche' then found space through the right side for an RBI single.
But the tie was short lived. Madi Simon tripled in a run for the lead and in the fifth, Kaiea Higa hit OSU's second 2-run shot of the game to make the final.
GAME 2 - No. 20 LSU 4, Nicholls 3
Nicholls handed LSU its first deficit of the opening weekend, but a 3-run home run in the fourth by Taylor Pleasants proved to be just enough for the Tigers to escape with a 4-3 victory.
Down 4-1, the Colonels answered in the fifth when Poche' laced a 2-run shot down the left field line. Although
Audrey McNeill came in and tossed two shutout innings, Nicholls was unable to threaten on offense and were retired in order in the final two frames.
Nicholls totaled four hits with
Melise Gossen and
Erin Krause adding singles, and
Samantha Gwiazda doubled in the second. Gossen gave the Colonels a 1-0 advantage in the third with a two-out RBI base hit.
LSU immediately tied the score on a Karli Petty RBI single. The Tigers loaded the bases with no outs against
Averi Paden, but Gossen was able to limit the damage when she caught a liner at first and stepped on the bag for a double play. Paden scattered six hits and walked three in 3.0 innings.
In the fourth,
Molly VandenBout allowed a single and a walk, setting up Pleasants' game-winning homer to right field.
Alea Johnson earned the win for LSU with six strikeouts in 4.0 innings. Sydney Berzon tallied her second save with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
