HAMMOND, La. - After seeing a three-win improvement in its league record from a year ago, the Nicholls State University softball team repeated as the No. 3 seed in the upcoming SLC Tournament, hosted by Southeastern in Hammond, Louisiana at North Oak Park.

Similar to last season, Nicholls (29-24, 16-8 SLC) took care of business in its final weekend by picking up a home sweep. The Colonels entered the series trailing UIW by 1.0 games in the standings but the sweep over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, along with UIW's split at Northwestern State in a rain-shortened series, allowed Nicholls to secure the No. 3 seed for a second straight season.

The Red and Gray will take on the winner of Tuesday's opening game between the No. 6 Islanders of AMCC and No. 7 HCU. The Colonels are slated to play the final game on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
 
Nicholls heads to the Southland Conference Tournament for the 16th time in program history. The Colonels boast a 29-27 all-time record in the SLC Tournament after posting a 2-2 mark last season. Nicholls suffered an upset loss in extra innings to No. 6 Northwestern State, 8-2, before knocking off No. 7 HCU, 2-1, and No. 5 AMCC, 1-0. The Colonels' season ended against No. 4 Lamar as the Cardinals rallied in the seventh for a 5-4 win.   

In the 2022 season, each team made the tournament and the Colonels went 0-2.       

McNeese headlines the tournament field after winning its third consecutive regular season title. Southeastern is No. 2 after leading the league in overall wins. Nicholls edged UIW for No. 3, with Lamar (No. 5), AMCC (No. 6) and HCU (No. 7) rounding out the field.  

Nicholls has a combined 10-8 record against the six other teams. The Colonels were the first team to hand McNeese a league loss but fell in the series at home, and bounced back from a Game 1 loss to take the series against Southeastern, also at Swanner Field. Nicholls ended the regular season with a sweep at home against AMCC.   In the road series, the Red & Gray won the series at Lamar, but fell at UIW and HCU.   Although Nicholls dropped three series, they were not swept all season.   

Tickets are available at www.Southland.org/tickets. The tournament winner will receive the league's automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament with the field announced Sunday at 6 p.m. (CDT) on ESPN2.

FOLLOWING ALONG
The 2024 Southland Conference Softball Tournament gets underway on Tuesday, May 7, at North Oak Park in Hammond, La. Each game at the tournament will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN+.  

For social media coverage, follow the Colonels on Twitter @Nicholls_SB and the Southland at @SouthlandSports.