BATON ROUGE, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team was limited to a pair of singles in the fourth frame and the No. 15 LSU Tigers scored seven runs over a two-inning stretch as the Colonels were handed an 8-0 loss in five innings Thursday night in their season opener at Tiger Park.

Audrey McNeill took the loss, allowing four runs in 3.0 innings but only one was earned. She finished the night with four walks and four hits allowed. Molly Yoo also saw an inning in the circle, giving up three earned runs on three hits.

Nicholls was retired in order the first time through facing Sydney Berzon and trailed 4-0 before Gabby Higbee singled to center to leadoff the fourth. With two on and two down, Abby Andersen singled to third to load the bases; however, Berzon notched her third strikeout of the inning to leave the bags full. Berzon tossed all five innings and racked up eight strikeouts.

McNeill was able to escape the first inning after leaving the bases loaded, but LSU struck in the second with a solo two-out homer by Raeleen Gutierrez. In the third, a pair of walks and a dropped foul ball led to three more runs for the Tigers.

In the fourth, Taylor Pleasants tripled with the bases loaded off of Yoo and scored on an error to put the run-rule into play. The Colonels were unable to keep the game going after three consecutive groundouts.

UP NEXT
Nicholls returns to the diamond on Friday, Feb. 9 for the first day of the Mardi Gras Mambo. The Colonels will take on Green Bay at 2 p.m. before facing North Dakota at 4.