THIBODAUX, La. - Following a third consecutive run-rule victory, the Nicholls State University softball team heads to Florida State for the Dugout Club Classic -- its second tournament hosted by a Power 5 program in as many weekends.
Nicholls will have a Friday doubleheader against FIU before playing two against No. 11 Florida State on Saturday. The finale on Sunday pits the Colonels against Charleston Southern. Both games against the Seminoles on Saturday will stream on ACCNX.
Last weekend at Houston, Nicholls won two games including an 11-2 victory in five innings in the finale against UMass. The Colonels carried that momentum into their home opener against Alcorn, winning 11-1 in six innings and 8-0 in five innings.
Nicholls rested its two primary starting pitchers against the Lady Braves in the sweep,
Audrey McNeill and
Molly Yoo, but the staff did not miss a beat.
Katy Sanders and
Molly VandenBout each pitched three strong innings in the opening win while
Averi Paden was a bunt single away from a no-hitter in Game 2. Paden improved to 3-0 on the season with a 2.44 ERA. McNeill also has three wins with a 2.36 earned run average and Yoo is 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA.
VandenBout earned the victory in Game 1 against Alcorn with three innings of relief and also shined at the plate. She hit a pair of home runs in the Colonels' home debut, ending the game with a three-run bomb in the sixth inning. It marked her second two-homer game in as many seasons after belting a pair on the road at Jackson State last year. VandenBout is second on the team with a .419 batting average and leads the offense with 12 RBIs.
Reagan Heflin tacked on three more hits in the doubleheader to increase her batting average to a team-best .471. She is one of six Colonels to homer this season as three more hit long balls on Wednesday - VandenBout (2),
Gabby Higbee and
Samantha Gwiazda. Heflin and
Claire Sisco homered last weekend in Houston.
Host Florida State is nationally ranked at No. 11 after going 1-2 in last weekend. The Seminoles defeated No. 9 Stanford, 4-0, before falling in a couple of high-scoring affairs against No. 20 UCLA, 14-10, and No. 4 Georgia, 20-10. Their finale against No. 2 Tennessee was canceled due to inclement weather.
FIU won three of four in its tournament last weekend, ending with a pair of wins over Rutgers. Charleston Southern also went 3-1 but won its last three by defeating UMass Lowell twice before beating St. John's in eight innings.
