COMMERCE, Texas - The winning streak continued for the Nicholls State University softball team as the Colonels claimed their seventh and eighth consecutive victories with 7-3 and 8-7 outcomes at East Texas A&M on Saturday night.
Nicholls (18-20, 8-6 SLC) had double figures in hits in each win, also for the seventh and eighth time in a row. The Colonels will go for the sweep on Sunday with first pitch set for 10 a.m.
Game 1 - Nicholls 7, East Texas A&M 3
Molly Yoo struck out a career-high nine batters while
Claire Sisco and
Erin Krause combined for six hits and four RBIs as the Colonels won the series opener, 7-3.
The offense gave Yoo an early lead with three runs in the second.
Laylin Sturm doubled in a run before Sisco tripled her in, then Krause singled for a 3-0 advantage.
Stephanie Tapia hit a two-run shot off Yoo in the bottom half and after Nicholls scored on a sac fly in the fourth, Tapia drove in a third run with an RBI single.
Nicholls responded with another sac fly in the fifth, then Krause and
Reagan Heflin pushed the advantage to 7-3 with run-scoring singles in the sixth.
Yoo allowed two earned runs on five hits in the complete game effort. For the offense, Nicholls totaled 16 hits with Heflin,
Brynne Songy,
Riley Rutherford, and Sturm adding two hits each.
Game 2 - Nicholls 8, East Texas A&M 7
Nicholls again received three-hit outings from Sisco and Krause as the Colonels withstood a late rally from the Lions to clinch the series with an 8-7 win.
The Colonels jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third, scoring at least a run in each inning. Songy started the scoring with an RBI single in the first, then a double steal made the score 2-0. Krause plated a pair in the second with a base hit and an RBI groundout by
Carmella Muccilli made it 5-0 in the third.
Tapia continued to be a one-Lion show with her second homer of the day, cutting the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the inning. In the fourth, a three-base error made it 5-3 before the Lions added a run on a groundout to come within a run.
After a scoreless fifth, Nicholls added what turned out to be three much-needed insurance runs in the sixth. Sisco reached on an infield single for a run and the next batter, Krause, found space through the left side for an RBI. Heflin then made it 8-4 with an RBI double in the gap.
Molly VandenBout left after five innings, giving up four runs on six hits while striking out four.
Libby May pitched the sixth but had to leave the game in the seventh after walking the first two batters.
Yoo subbed in and was greeted with a double off the top of the wall by Darby HIckey, putting the score at 8-5. The Colonels allowed an infield single, but gunned down the runner at home trying to score. Following a strikeout, the Lions struck again with a two-run single by Emmie Miehe. But Yoo forced a grounder to
Lilianna Robledo at short and she fired over to first for the final out.
VandenBout picked up the win while Yoo earned the save.
