Nicholls softball hosts nationally-ranked LSU before facing Southland road series at Lamar

Nicholls will host LSU at 6 p.m. Tuesday before embarking on a three-game Southland Conference series Thursday through Friday at Lamar in Beaumont, Texas.

With no SLC series last week, the game between Nicholls and sixth-ranked LSU will be the first for the Lady Colonels in almost a week.

“It’s the first time we’ve done it since I’ve been here where we actually took our bye week off and used it as an off time, so hopefully, we respond to it,” Nicholls coach Justin Lewis said. “We were kind of struggling with the bats and gave us an opportunity to work on some things and get a little healthy, so to speak. We’ll see how the results go (Tuesday) and this weekend.

The last game Nicholls played was a 7-6 win in nine innings against visiting Southern Mississippi.

Nicholls (17-14) won in dramatic fashion over Southern Miss on a walk-off home run by Mckenzie Champagne.

Prior to the win over USM, Nicholls had lost four of its previous five games.

“You look at what Southern Miss did this weekend in their series against a really good Marshall team. So we feel pretty good about it. Hopefully, everyone’s spirits are up and in a good place,” Lewis said.

LSU (25-4) is coming off a three-game Southeastern Conference series at No. 15 Missouri. LSU dropped two of the three games in the series.

All three games were decided by one run. LSU dropped the opener 10-9 and the second game 3-2. A 4-3 win in the finale allowed LSU, which had entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation, from being swept. The win over Missouri snapped a four-game losing streak after LSU opened the season by winning its first 24 games.

“It will be interesting to see to how they respond to that,” said Lewis. “It’s really nothing for us to be too focused on. As long as we play the game we are capable of playing, we should be in for a pretty good game.”

The first of the 24-straight wins came in an 8-0 win in five innings over Nicholls in Thibodaux.

In the win over Nicholls, Sydney Berzon retired the first nine batters she faced, eventually allowing two hits while striking out five.

“That was our first game of the year and at their place. Now we’ve played at Florida State, played Ole Miss at home and we’ve played in some bigger games. I’m hopeful it has prepared us to give them a better run this time,” Lewis said.

Berzon lasted only one inning in the series-opening loss to Missouri. She allowed seven runs, four of which were earned, on six hits, while striking out three.

For the season, Berzon is 9-1 with a 2.45 earned run average.

In LSU’s 3-2 loss, starter Raelin Chaffin allowed three runs, none of which were earned, on four hits, while striking out two in 2 2/3 innings.

Chaffin is 7-2 on the season with a 2.27 ERA.

Kelly Lynch lasted on 1 2/3 innings in LSU’s 4-3 win over Missouri. Berzon won in relief, allowing one unearned run on two hits and one walk, while striking out three in 5 1/3 innings of work.

Lynch is 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA.

“I would imagine we’re going to get one of the three,” said Lewis. “We got Berzon, who was an All-American as a true freshman last year. We got her opening night. Now that each of us are both in the middle of our conference season, it’ll be interesting to see who they actually throw against us. We’re kind of preparing for all of it at this point.”

“They’re all high velocity, at least Berzon and Chaffin,” he continued. “They’ll throw in the upper 60s, but we’ve been seeing that quite a bit this year. The plan was to see it as much as possible so we could get used to it.”

As a staff, LSU has a team earned run average of 2.42. Opponents have produced a 6.01 ERA against LSU.

Danieca Coffey leads LSU in hitting with a .404 average in 16 games. Karli Perry is hitting .395 in 17 games.

Among those who have played 20 games or more, Ali Newland leads the way with a .388 average.

Newland, Raeleen Gutierrez, and Taylor Pleasants all have five home runs each to pace LSU. Pleasants also leads the team with 31 runs batted in.

Because of Easter Weekend, the series between Nicholls and Lamar has been moved up a day.

Nicholls and Lamar are scheduled to play a single game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. A Friday double-header is slated to begin at 1 p.m.

“It kind of crunches our schedule with LSU and then we leave the very next day to head to Lamar,” Lewis said. “We’ll practice over there since we’ve never played on that field and give us an opportunity to kind of get used to the surrounding a little bit. It really doesn’t matter to us. We’ve been prepping our team since the fall to be flexible and have kind of the mindset that we don’t really care where we play. Tell us when to show up and we’ll be there.”

The Cardinals play at Texas-San Antonio on Tuesday before hosting Nicholls.

Lamar (5-1 in the Southland, 21-10 overall) is coming off of a three-game road sweep at Texas A&M-Commerce. The Cardinals won the opener 8-2 before blanking Commerce 10-0 and 5-0 in the final two games of the series.

Emma Wardlaw won the opener for Lamar. She allowed two runs on eight hits and one walk, while striking out two in going the distance.

Karyana Mitchell (9-1) tossed a five-inning no-hitter, allowing only one walk in the second game of the series.

Wardlaw (9-2) got the win in the finale, allowing two hits and one walk, while striking out five. Mitchell pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to pick up her second save of the season.

With Wardlaw and Mitchell doing the bulk of the work, Lamar’s team earned run average is 2.85.

Wardlaw sports a 1.73 ERA. She had allowed 21 runs in 85 innings, yielding 87 hits and 11 walks while striking out 53.

Mitchell has a 1.83 ERA. She has allowed 16 earned runs in 61 2/3 innings, giving up 52 hits and nine walks, while striking out 52.

“We faced Mitchell last year, she throws hard. She’s a drop-ball, changeup kid, who’s very competitive. We were fortunate to beat her last year in a really tough game. Wardlaw’s a freshman that appears to be doing really well,” Lewis said.

Offensively, Shenita Tucker leads Lamar with a .366 average and has stolen 22 bases in 24 attempts.

“Last year they had a lot more kids that would swing the bat and challenge defenses. This year, they’re a lot more athletic and running,” said Lewis. “Shenita’s a really good little ballplayer. We scouted her in junior college, where she was a two-time national champion. She can really go. She’s itty bitty, she’s about 5-foot tall but strong as an ox, and obviously, really, really fast.

“One of the things we’ve already identified is we have to keep her off the basepaths as much as possible.”

Kalyn Xayaseng is second on the team in hitting with a .338 average.

Lamar has hit only six home runs as a team. Trinity Brandon, who is hitting .326, leads the team with two home runs.

Veronica Harrison leads the team in runs batted in with 21.

Proper execution by Nicholls rather than anything Lamar may do, Lewis said, should be the key to the series for the Lady Colonels.

“Our formula all year – we haven’t been successful with it all the time – but we need to be able to show up and compete on a daily basis at a high level,” the Nicholls coach said. “As long as we execute on our side offensively and defensively, I think we will have a really good weekend. Our Achilles heel sometimes has been execution kind a waning from time to time. We’re working on that consistency, and hopefully, we are getting closer.”