THIBODAUX, La. - Riding a 15-game winning streak, the Nicholls State University softball team will host Northwestern State for its final home series of the regular season.
The series at Swanner Field at Geo Surfaces Park will open on Thursday, April 17 with a 4:00 p.m. doubleheader. Friday's finale is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
Nicholls (25-20, 15-6 SLC) is coming off its fourth consecutive sweep in league play. The Colonels had a busy eight days, playing a total of nine games which included two long trips to Texas -- East Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Between the road series, Nicholls took all three games of a midweek home set against HCU.
The Colonels have excelled in all three phases during the winning streak -- offense, defense and pitching. The team is hitting .408 in the 15 games, while the pitching staff has a 2.00 ERA with a .230 opponent batting average. The defense sports a .969 fielding percentage compared to a .948 clip by the opposition.
For the lineup during the streak, Nicholls has two batters hitting over .500 --
Claire Sisco (.511) and
Erin Krause (.510), two over .400 --
Reagan Heflin (.490) and
Laylin Sturm (.429), and
Molly VandenBout sits at .395 with 17 RBIs. Krause has a team-high 19 RBIs in the span and is coming off her second straight Southland Hitter of the Week.
While the entire lineup has heated up during the streak, Sisco has been having an MVP-caliber season all year long. She currently ranks 15th in the NCAA in batting average at .469, and is second in doubles (18) and 18th in on-base percentage (.562).
The trio of VandenBout,
Molly Yoo and
Averi Paden have handled most of the pitching duties throughout the streak. Paden has a 1.53 ERA and is followed by Yoo (2.24) and VandenBout (2.28). Yoo has 27 strikeouts in 34.1 innings and notched her first SLC Pitcher of the Week of her career this past week.
Northwestern State (5-39, 2-19 SLC) is tied for last in the standings but is still in contention for a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Demons picked up a big win last week with a 4-3 victory over UIW, which is tied with Nicholls for third place.
The Colonels took all three games last season in Natchitoches, but Northwestern State won the series in Thibodaux in 2023. NSU took two of three at Swanner Field and then added a postseason victory over the Colonels.
ON DECK
Nicholls will take on Southern on Tuesday in Baton Rouge before heading to Southeastern for a three-game series starting on Friday.
