NATCHITOCHES, La. - The Nicholls State University softball team held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth but Northwestern State rallied for three runs and held on to hand the Colonels a 5-3 loss in the regular season finale at Demon Diamond.

Despite the late surge by Demons, the seventh started promising for the Colonels as Erin Krause singled before Reagan Heflin doubled down the left field line to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. But after a strikeout, Northwestern State's Mattison Buster worked around a one-out walk to retire the final two batters and prevent the sweep.

With the loss, Nicholls (29-21, 17-10 SLC) finished tied for third in the standings with UIW and will be the No. 3 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Colonels will play in the Lake Charles Bracket along with No. 2 McNeese, No. 6 Northwestern State and No. 7 Stephen F. Austin. Nicholls will take on NSU for the fourth straight game as the squads are set for a 7 p.m. matchup on Thursday, April 30. 

The Colonels had a strong start against Northwestern State (24-27, 13-14 SLC) on Saturday, scoring a run in each of the first two innings. Nicholls took advantage of an error for the first run, then Claire Sisco chopped a base hit up the middle and Laylin Sturm scored from second base.

But in the bottom half, NSU plated its first run of the weekend against Molly Yoo on a Makynlie Jones RBI single. The Colonels then threw the ball away on a double steal, tying the game at 2-2.

In the third, Krause doubled to start the frame and scored on a Kayleigh Lugowski single to center. Lugowski led the offense with three hits on the day.

Neither team scored in the fourth and fifth innings. The Demons threatened in the fourth but Yoo got a looking strikeout to leave the bases loaded. 

The Demons' rally in the sixth was fueled by five hits. Sister Arnold put NSU ahead with a 2-run double and JT Smith added a run on a sacrifice fly for the final run of the game.

Yoo gave up 10 hits in 6.0 innings, allowing four earned runs and struck out four. Buster also tossed a complete game, surrendering 10 hits while fanning six.

Sisco and Krause joined Lugowski with a multi-hit game as both had two hits.