YOUNGSVILLE, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team picked up a sweep in its doubleheader on Saturday, defeating Providence College, 6-1, before knocking off UT-Arlington, 8-4, in the nightcap of the Mardi Gras Mambo at the Youngsville Sports Complex.
Nicholls (3-2) will close out the tournament at 10 a.m. on Sunday against Montana. The game was moved up an hour due to potential weather later in the day.
Game 1 - Nicholls 6, Providence 1
Audrey McNeill threw five shutout innings while the offense produced a pair of runs in three different frames to lift the Colonels to a win against Providence College.
Nicholls totaled seven hits with
Erin Krause leading the way with a 2-for-4 outing.
Samantha Gwiazda had a team-high two RBIs thanks to a double in the sixth for the Colonels' final runs. The sixth was the final two-run inning for the Colonels after scoring two in the second and third. The second inning featured a run-scoring base hit by
Molly VandenBout and an RBI double by Reagan Halfin.
In the third, Nicholls made it 3-0 after an
Alexa Poche' RBI single and added one more to its lead on a wild pitch.
McNeill left after the fifth inning, surrendering just three hits while striking out five.
Katy Sanders tossed two hitless innings of relief, but the Friars pushed across a run on a sacrifice fly in the third.
Game 2- Nicholls 8, UTA 4
Nicholls came out swinging a hot back by scoring all eight hits in the first four innings and handed UT-Arlington an 8-4 loss.
The Colonels compiled 10 hits for the second time in as many days, led by Krause with another two-hit effort. Her RBI triple in the first inning gave Nicholls the early lead for good.
VandenBout added two hits and two RBIs, while
Rylie Rutherford and
Reagan Heflin totaled two hits as well. VandenBout started the scoring in the second with a base hit up the middle, and Heflin followed with a run-scoring double for a 3-0 lead.
Nicholls then doubled the advantage with three runs in the third. The first run scored on a groundout and then Rutherford smacked a single up the middle for a 5-0 lead. VandenBout made it 6-0 with a deep double to center field.
UTA loaded the bases with no outs against
Molly Yoo in the bottom half but could only muster a single run. Yoo got an out on a popup bunt but ended up walking in the Mavericks' first run of the day. She fanned the next batter before fielding a groundout to leave the score at 6-1. Yoo finished her start with three hits allowed in 3.0 innings.
The Colonels added two insurance runs in the fourth for their final runs of the day. Poche' hit an RBI single and another run came home on a bad throw to the plate.
Averi Paden pitched the next three innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits while striking out three for her first career win. Sander tossed the seventh and had one hit allowed with one strikeout.
