Rutherford homer, McNeill shutout lead Nicholls softball team to 2-0 series-opening win

Audrey McNeill of Nicholls and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Primrose Aholelei matched each other pitch for pitch throughout the night and base runners were a rare sight.

It wasn’t until the fifth inning when one of the teams had a leadoff batter reach base.

Rylie Rutherford opened the inning with a grounder to the left side of the infield but reached base safely when Islanders first baseman Monee Montilla dropped the throw from third baseman Kimane Rogron. Rutherford became the first baserunner from either team to advance as far as second base when Aholelei hit Mckenzie Champagne with a pitch with two outs.

Aholelei followed by hitting Samantha Gwiazda with a pitch, enabling Rutherford to reach third base. Rutherford was stranded there when Aholelei got Claire Sisco to fly out to center field.

When Reagan Heflin led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to left field, Rutherford made sure Heflin would not be stranded. Aholelei got two quick outs after Heflin’s base hit before Rutherford blasted a home run over the center field wall to give Nicholls a 2-0 lead.

“I kinda had a feeling. It felt like it went over, but I knew at least I hit it hard enough to where she (Heflin) was gonna score and that was all that mattered, and then it went over and I was like, ‘cool, that even better than just one,’ Rutherford said of her home run.

Going to the top of the seventh inning, McNeill had allowed one hit and issued only one walk.

She got the first two outs of the inning before Montilla hit a double to right center field. A single by Sidney Campion put runners on the corners. McNeill then struck out Felixia Hinojosa to end the game with a 2-0 Nicholls triumph.

“Honestly, I’ve been kind of struggling getting through the seventh inning recently – just letting them come back and tie it up right in the seventh. Getting over that hump and throwing and getting that strikeout was awesome and very good going into tomorrow and the conference tournament,” McNeill said.

McNeill (13-12) ended up allowing three hits and one walk, while striking out eight. The seventh inning was the only time she allowed an Islander runner to advance as far as second base.

“I haven’t been throwing a lot of strikeouts recently. I’ve been more of a contact pitcher in the past couple of weeks. It feels good to kind of assert a little bit of dominance and be on top,” said McNeill.

“Audrey was amazing tonight. I think that might have been the best she’s ever pitched since she’s been here. We’re gonna need her again tomorrow. We got two more,” Nicholls coach Justin Lewis said.

The two more consists of a double-header against the Islanders beginning at noon Saturday.

Nicholls moved to 14-8 in the Southland Conference and 27-24 with the win. Corpus Christi fell to 9-13 in the SLC and 21-19 overall.

Aholelei (15-10) ended up allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out four in six innings.

“Primrose is the real deal,” Lewis said. “She’s the reigning Pitcher of the Year in the conference. She’s the most competitive kid in the circle that I’ve seen in our conference. It’s not going to be easy. They have a lot of confidence when they play behind her because they know that they’re going to have a chance to win and she’s their warrior. You gotta overcome all that.”

The game had a bit of extra meaning for Lewis and McNeill. Lewis served as an assistant coach for the Islanders in 2020 and McNeill played at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from 2021-22.

“There’s a lot of emotions in that game with me coaching there before and Audrey playing there before. Of course, we had to make it interesting,” said Lewis, referring to the late-game threat by the Islanders.

With Aholelei and McNeill likely to see additional action on Saturday, other low-scoring affairs may be the order of the day.

One thing Nicholls may have in its favor, Lewis said, is a pair of hitters coming around at the right time of year.

“It was just one of those pitchers’ duels. It was a fun game to be a part of. You had a feeling that was gonna be something like that. Fortunately, last weekend, Riley started really getting hot and we figured that the timing with her and Alexa Poche getting hot right here at the end of the year is perfect timing,” the Nicholls coach said.