HAMMOND, La. - After a four-hour lightning delay and falling behind 7-3, the Nicholls State University softball team rallied for six unanswered runs to defeat Southeastern, 9-7, on Friday night at North Oak Park.
With the victory, Nicholls (28-21, 18-7 SLC) stays in contention for the No. 2 seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament. With a sweep of Southeastern (42-12, 20-5 SLC), the Colonels would host one four-team bracket while No. 1 seed McNeese would host the other. Nicholls could also secure a share of the regular season title with a sweep and a Stephen F. Austin sweep of McNeese this weekend.
The delay could not derail the Southland's hottest team which has now won 18 of its last 19 games. Nicholls will also carry a seven-game road winning streak into the series finale which will now be a Saturday doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.
Nicholls piled up 16 hits in the victory over SLU with
Claire Sisco and
Laylin Sturm accounting for three each. Sturm was also part of a trio who each had two RBIs, joined by
Erin Krause and
Molly VandenBout.
The Lady Lions jumped out to a 4-1 lead through two innings, then the lightning delay starting in the fourth inning. After the break, Nicholls plated two runs to make it 4-3 on back-to-back RBI singles by
Carmella Muccilli and Sturm.
In the bottom of the fifth, SLU chased
Molly Yoo out of the game after Colleen Kulivan belted a two-run homer to dead center to extend the Lady Lion lead to 7-3. Yoo finished her night with six earned runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings.
Averi Paden subbed in and got the final two outs of the frame.
Sturm started the rally in the sixth with an RBI single. Krause then found space through the right side for two RBIs, and made it all the way to third on an error. VandenBout capped the inning with an RBI groundout which evened the score at 7-7.
In the seventh, Muccilli hit a deep fly for a double and scored on a wild throw on a grounder. Sisco reached on a bunt single and it allowed Sturm to score for a 9-7 advantage.
Paden gave up a one-out single in the seventh before finishing off the comeback with a soft liner for the final out. She picked up the win in relief, striking out two in 2.2 shutout innings.
ON DECK
Nicholls and SLU will wrap up the series and regular season on Saturday with an 11 a.m. doubleheader.
