THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team suffered its first Southland series loss as the Colonels were swept in a doubleheader against Northwestern State on Friday at Swanner Field at GeoSurfaces Park.
Nicholls (17-13, 4-4 SLC) had split its opening doubleheaders in the first two series before going on to win on Saturday. But after falling 6-5 and 3-1 to the Lady Demons (16-12, 3-2 SLC) on Friday, the Colonels will look to avoid the sweep in Saturday's noon finale.
Game 1 - Northwestern State 6, Nicholls 5
The Colonels fell behind early 3-0 and despite a late rally, Nicholls dropped the opener against the Lady Demons.
NSU scored what turned out to be two much-needed insurance runs in the seventh as they went up 6-2.
Alexa Poche' started the Colonel rally with a one-scoring single and then
Molly VandenBout doubled to left to bring home another two runs. But with the tying runner on second, NSU's Maggie Darr recorded her fifth strikeout to end the game.
Nicholls had seven hits with Poche' and VandenBout each recording two and two RBIs.
Tal Evans pulled Nicholls to within a run in the fourth with her first career home run which made the score 3-2.
After the Lady Demons scored in the sixth, Nicholls had a chance to trim the deficit by putting a pair of runners on with one down. VandenBout singled and Evans walked, however, Darr struck out the next two batters to keep the count at 4-2 Lady Demons. The teams then combined for five runs in the seventh.
Audrey McNeill took the loss, throwing 2.0 innings in the start with two earned runs on six hits. VandenBout threw 4.0 innings of relief and
Brittney Turner tossed the final inning.
Darr earned the victory with five strikeouts in 3.2 innings out of the bullpen. On offense, the Lady Demons had five players with multi-hit games, including a 3-for-3 day by Taylor Williams.
Game 2 - Northwestern State 3, Nicholls 1
The Lady Demons scored all of their runs in the third and the defense came up with two double plays and a triple play to limit the Colonels to one run as NSU clinched the weekend series with a 3-1 win.
Kenzie Seely had a shutout for Northwestern State through six innings before the Colonels pieced together a late rally.
Mckenzie Champagne smoked a double for the lone run of the game but a strikeout would end the game.
Molly Yoo took the loss despite just having one tough inning. She scattered seven hits and struck out three in the complete game effort. Seely allowed five hits and struck out two in seven innings.
The Colonels had a fantastic start to the game as
Abby Andersen had a leadoff single and
Claire Sisco walked. But on the next play,
Erin Krause popped up a bunt and Seely made a running snag before it hit the turf. She fired to first to double up Sisco and Andersen went to third thinking it had hit the ground, making way for a rare triple play.
In the third, Yoo ran into trouble as she gave up four hits for three runs. Taylor Williams hit an RBI double and Laney Roos followed with a rocket down the third base line for the other two runs.
The NSU defense then turned double plays in the fourth and fifth innings. But in the sixth, a walk and an error put the tying runners on base. Seely then came through with a strikeout to keep the score at 3-0 before allowing a run in the seventh.
Poche' led the Colonel offense with two hits.
