Mckenzie Champagne - Nicholls Softball
Brad Weimer Photography
6
Southern Miss USM 12-15
7
Winner Nicholls NICH 17-14
Southern Miss USM
12-15
6
Final
7
Nicholls NICH
17-14
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Southern Miss USM 0 0 0 1 0 3 2 0 0 6 7 1
Nicholls NICH 0 0 1 0 4 1 0 0 1 7 10 0

W: McNeill, Audrey (8-9) L: Jana Lee (1-3)

Game Recap: Softball |

Champagne's walk-off homer lifts Colonels past Southern Miss in extras

THIBODAUX, La. - Senior Mckenzie Champagne finished off her perfect day at the plate with a walk-off home run as the Nicholls State University softball team defeated Southern Miss, 7-6, in nine innings on Wednesday night on Swanner Field at GeoSurfaces Park. 

Champagne homered for the second time in the game, sending the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth over the center field wall. She homered in the third inning and added two singles in the victory.

Nicholls (17-14) led 5-1 heading into the sixth inning before Southern Miss (12-15) began its comeback. The Golden Eagles plated three in the frame but the Colonels got one back on Champagne's RBI single in the bottom half. Then in the seventh, Southern Miss' Jana Lee delivered a 2-run double with two outs to tie the game at 6-6.

Before the walk-off homer, the Colonels had a couple of big plays in the field in extras to keep the Golden Eagles off the board. In the eighth, Audrey McNeill (8-9) got a looking strikeout to strand a runner on third. Then in the final inning, center fielder Gabby Higbee made a running catch in the gap to rob an extra-base hit. 

Champagne went 4-for-4 as Nicholls finished with 10 hits. Samantha Gwiazda had a two-hit effort and Claire Sisco drove in two on an RBI triple. 

Champagne's first home run of the season in the third went into the hitting facility for the game's first hit. Colonel starter Molly Yoo then gave up her first hit in the fourth when Maria Smith legged out an RBI triple to quickly even the score.

Nicholls then took a 5-1 advantage in the fifth with four runs. Gwiazda drove in the go-ahead run with a base hit before Sisco's triple. Riley Rutherford finished the scoring with an RBI on a fielder's choice. 

USM's rally in the sixth was fueled by two run-scoring wild pitches by Yoo. Ryanna Valdivia then cut into the lead with an RBI double. McNeill got the final out but was unable to close it out in the seventh after Lee's game-tying double. 

Yoo lasted 5.2 innings with four earned runs on four hits and struck out three. McNeill totaled four strikeouts and two earned runs on three hits in 3.1 innings.