Heflin leads hit parade for Nicholls softball team at Mardi Gras Mambo

Nicholls defeated Montana 9-2 in its final game Sunday in the Mardi Gras Mambo in Youngsville, La., to finish with a 4-1 mark in the three-day event.

The Lady Colonels improved to 4-2 on the season with the win over the Grizzlies.

Outfielder Reagan Heflin finished with seven hits in getting a hit in all five games to pace Nicholls. She also drove in five runs

Nicholls scored three runs in each of the first, second, and sixth innings in pounding out 12 hits in the win over Montana.

Alexa Poche and Abby Anderson led the hit parade with two hits each.

Nicholls scored its first run in the bottom of the first via an error before Andersen produced a run-scoring single, and Rylie Rutherford drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly.

With runners on the corners in the second inning, Gabby Higbee’s single up the middle produced the first run. A sacrifice fly by Erin Krause made the score 5-0 before Nicholls added the final run of the inning on a single by Poche.

Both of Montana’s runs came in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Grace Hardy and a run-scoring double by Hannah Jablonski.

The final three runs for Nicholls in the sixth on an RBI-single by Brynne Songy, and a two-run base hit by Laylin Sturm.

Audrey McNeill (3-1), the last of three pitchers used by Nicholls, picked up the win. She allowed no runs on no hits and walked one, while striking out four in four innings of work.

Nicholls 11, Green Bay 1: It didn’t take Nicholls long to rebound from a season-opening loss at nationally-ranked LSU as the Lady Colonels dominated Green Bay on Friday, one day after falling to the Tigers.

The Lady Colonels pounded out 10 hits to even their record at 1-1.

Claire Sisco, Poche and Heflin each had two hits in the game.

Poche had a run-scoring triple in a three-run first inning. The other runs came when Krause hit a fielder’s choice, and Andersen had a run-scoring ground out.

Green Bay’s only run came in the top of the second inning on a run-scoring double by Aiden Messman.

Nicholls got the run back in the bottom half of the inning on a run-scoring triple by Heflin.

Heflin, Andersen, Sisco and Molly VandenBout all had run-scoring singles as part of a seven-run fourth inning that led to the game being called after five innings because of the mercy-run rule.

McNeill (1-1) picked up her first win of the season, allowing one run and one hit while striking out three in four innings. Averi Paden pitched the fifth inning for Nicholls.

North Dakota 4, Nicholls 2: The Lady Colonels were unable to pull off a sweep of Friday’s opening-day action in the Mardi Gras Mambo, falling to the Fighting Hawks.

The Fighting Hawks scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning to break a 2-2 to defeat Nicholls.

Madison Pede started things off with a one-out double. Taya Hopfauf fouled, out, advancing pinch-runner Kaycee Hayes to third. A Katelyn Neumayer single scored. Hayes. Following a fielding error, Izzy Haslett’s single to right field scored Neumayer.

Nicholls (1-2) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Samantha Gwiazda came up with a two-out single and stole second before scoring on a base hit by Higbee.

The Fighting Hawks took advantage of Nicholls errors to grab a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth.

Hopfauf started things off with a two-out triple. Neumayer followed by reaching base on a fielding error and advancing to second on a throwing error, allowing Hopfauf to score. Neumayer scored on a single by Mirah Peter.

Nicholls tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. Andersen reached base on a two-out fielder’s choice and stole second base. After Rutherford walked, Andersen scored on a single to right by Heflin.

Molly Yoo (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing one earned run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings, while striking out six.

Nicholls 6, Providence1: Nicholls scored two runs in each of three different innings in defeating Providence in the first game of second-day tournament action.

The first two runs for Nicholls (2-2) came in the top of the second inning.

Poche and Andersen led off with singles to put runners on first and second before they were advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Rutherford. Poche scored on a ground up by VandenBout and Heflin followed with a run-scoring single to give Nicholls a 2-0 lead.

Nicholls added two more runs in the third inning. Sisco drew a one-out walk and stole second base, before advancing to third on a single by Krause. Sisco scored on a ground out by Poche, and Krause scored on a wild pitch to give Nicholls a 4-0 lead.

The final two runs for Nicholls came in the sixth inning on a two-out double by Gwiazda.

Providence got its only run in the seventh inning on an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Brianna De La Fuente.

McNeill (2-1) got the win. She allowed no earned runs on three hits while striking out five in five innings of work.

Katy Sanders pitched the final two innings, allowing one run, none earned, on no hits and one walk, while striking out one.

Nicholls 8, Texas-Arlington 4: Nicholls scored all eight of its runs over the course of the first four innings to pick up its second win of the day on Saturday.

The Lady Colonels (3-2) scored a run in the top of the first inning on a run-scoring triple by Krause, and added two more runs in the second on run-scoring doubles by VandenBout and Heflin.

Nicholls added three more runs in the third inning on a run-scoring ground out by Andersen, an RBI single by Rutherford, and a run-scoring double by VandenBout.

After UTA rallied for a run in the bottom of the third inning, Nicholls scored its final two runs in the top of the fourth.

Following a pair of walks with two outs, Poche singled to left to score Sisco, with Krause also scoring on the play on a throwing error by the UTA center fielder.

UTA added two runs in the bottom of the fourth and a run in the sixth inning.

Yoo pitched the first three innings, with Paden (1-0) pitching the next three to pick up the win. Sanders pitched the final inning.