Nicholls softball team’s season comes to an end with extra-inning 4-3 loss against McNeese

Members of the Nicholls softball team are not likely to forget their exit from the Southland Conference softball tournament Thursday afternoon in Hammond.

It likely won’t be because of the three-up, three-down finish in the bottom of the eighth inning in a 4-3 defeat.

Mostly likely, it will be what happened a half-inning earlier that will linger with the Lady Colonels.

Nicholls, the No. 3 seed, and top-seeded McNeese went to the eighth inning of the elimination game tied 3-3.

McNeese’s Alexis Dibbley produced a one-out base hit just over the glove of a leaping Samantha Gwiazda at shortstop. Rylie Bouvier lined out to Gwiazda for the second out of the inning.

Bella Perez hit a deep fly ball to the outfielder between center fielder Gabby Higbee and right fielder Abby Andersen. The two outfielders seemed to graze one another as the ball rolled past them with the resulting triple allowing Dibbley to score what would prove to be the winning run.

The attention quickly focused on the outfield, with Higbee rolling on the ground in obvious pain. She remained there for quit awhile being attended to. Unable to put weight on her left leg, she was carried off the field.

“Once she realized the ball was past her, she tried to pivot that knee like to go towards the wall and I think that’s where it happened. We don’t know exactly if it’s just a strain, or if it’s an ACL tear or not yet,” Nicholls coach Justin Lewis said.

It was an emotional time, Lewis said, for himself and the team.

“It’s an emotional thing. Gabby is one of the team favorites. Everyone loves Gabby,” Lewis said. “She works her butt off. She’s an amazing human. I have a long-standing relationship with her from going back to when I was coaching at Corpus, I actually had her committed to Corpus.

When the coaching staff fell part there, she went to Tulsa and didn’t have the greatest experience. When she was in the portal, it was a no-brainer for her to come to us.”

“We already had a relationship,” Lewis continued. “So I’ve had a relationship with her and her family for a long time. She’s a great kid. It was very emotional for me. My whole staff were out there in tears and the team was really shook by it. It took us a long time to really get our s— together.”

Still, the game had to go on.

In the bottom half of the inning, Alexa Poche led off with a deep fly ball to the deepest part of the park. Brooke Otto, who had just entered the game as a defensive replacement in center field, hauled in the ball a step from the outfield wall to make the catch for the first out of the inning.

A fly out by Katy Sanders and a strikeout by Sydni Stevens brought the Nicholls season to an end.

“Our team really responded. I was really impressed with them. We gathered and said, ‘hey, let’s get together and let’s talk about a little bit.’ Obviously everyone loves Gabby and but it’s happened and it is what it is at this point. We got to finish this game and we went and got the next out and then and then you know the next half at-bat, Alexa comes up and hits the ball all the way to the wall that I thought might have had a chance to go out, but the wind was really blowing in from right field. Then Katy Sanders comes up and hits a missile, a line drive. They fought, and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Lewis said.

Audrey McNeill (14-13) suffered the loss for Nicholls. She worked the final three innings in relief of starter Averi Paden, allowing one run on two hits and one walk, while striking out two.

Working the first five innings, Paden allowed three runs on five hits and one walk, while striking out two.

Shaelyn Sanders (20-10) pitched all eight innings in picking up the for McNeese. She allowed three runs on six hits and two walks, with five strikeouts.

Nicholls concluded its season 31-26.

“We had a couple more wins than last year, but we had a way tougher schedule this year,” Lewis said “We played like 10, 11 SWAC teams last year and this year we play like 11 Power-5 games. In conference, we were 4-14 our first year and 13-11 last year got us third place. We were like 16-8 in conference this year and still got us third place because teams like UIW at the bottom of the conference got better, but it was really a good year for how young we are.

“We’re still the youngest team in the conference. When you put it in that perspective we’re right on track, maybe ahead of where we’re supposed to be. We’re super young and the future is bright.

Andersen opened the bottom of the first inning for Nicholls with a single past shortstop. After Reagan Heflin fouled out, Poche delivered a triple down the right field line, scoring Andersen with the first run of the day. Sanders followed with a ground out to second base, scoring Poche for a 2-0 lead.

McNeese quickly got one of the runs back when Dibbley led off the top of the second inning with a home run to left field off of Paden, making it 2-1.

Both teams threatened in the fourth inning, but Nicholls was the only one to come away with a run.

In the top half of the inning, McNeese had runners on second and third base with two outs. Perez hit a long fly ball to left field. Heflin, the Nicholls left fielder, raced back and reached up to make the catch, denying Perez of likely extra bases and two runs for the Cowgirls.

After giving up the triple to Poche in the first inning, Sanders retired nine batters in a row after getting the first two outs in the bottom of the fourth.

Higbee snapped the streak with a double to left center field. Claire Sisco reached base on a bunt single to put runners on the corners. After Sisco stole second base, Lilianna Robledo walked to load the bases. Pinch hitter Mckenzie Champagne drew a walk to force in a run to extend the Nicholls lead to 3-1.

It turned out to be a much-needed run as the Cowgirls turned a threat in the fifth inning into a pair of runs to tie the game.

With a runner on first base and one out, pinch hitter Emily Phillips walked. Another pinch hitter, Kelsey Gaspard, doubled down the left field line to drive in a run to make it a one-run game. A run-scoring ground out by Samantha Mundine tied the game to eventually force extra innings.