Nicholls softball takes two of three in Southland Conference series at Lamar

Nicholls lost the last contest of a three-game series at Lamar 2-0 on Friday afternoon but came away with a series win after defeating the Cardinals in the opening two games 4-1 and 3-2.

The finale of the Southland Conference series was the third of three pitchers’ duels in the series.

In the first two games, Nicholls pitcher Averi Paden picked up a pair of wins in relief. She went 2-0 in the series, allowing a combined one run on seven hits and three walks, while striking out one in 5 2/3 innings.

The results allowed Nicholls to improve to 6-3 in the Southland and 19-16 overall. Lamar moved to 9-3 in the SLC and 23-12 overall.

Lamar got all the runs it would need in the fifth inning of Game 3 to avoid a sweep.

With two outs, Kalyn Xayaseg doubled down the left field line against Nicholls pitcher Audrey McNeill. After Shenita Tucker walked, Jayne singled to center to score Xayaseng, with Tucker advancing to third on the throw and Sepulveda to second.

Trinity Brandon followed with a single to third base, allowing Tucker to score to give Lamar a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the seventh innings, singles by Erin Krause and Abby Andersen put runners on second and first with no outs. A flyout by Molly VandenBout was the first out of the inning.

Lamar pitcher Sabrina Jolin got Claire Sisco to hit a grounder to shortstop. Cardinals shortstop Aubrey Brown initially mishandled the ball. She threw to third base to force out Krause. Brandon, the Lamar third baseman, tossed to second base to nab Andersen at the bag to end the game.

McNeill (8-10) took the loss. She allowed two runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out five in six innings.

Jolin (3-3) went the distance for Lamar, allowing seven hits.

Nicholls 3, Lamar 2: For the second game in a row, Paden picked up the win in relief in another pitchers’ duel.

Paden (5-2) pitched the final 4 1/3 innings in relief of starter Molly Yoo, allowing one run on five hits with one strikeout. Yoo pitched the first 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks, while striking out one.

Like the first game of the series Thursday night, the opening game of the double-header on Friday provided drama in the seventh inning.

Back-to-back singles by Tucker and Sepulveda put runners on second and first with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Brandon reached base on a fielder’s choice, with Sepulveda advancing to second on an error by Sisco, the Nicholls second baseman, allowing Tucker to score.

On an attempted steal, an errant throw to third base by Nicholls catcher Riley Rutherford into left field, allowed Sepulveda to score the tying run. Upon review, the poor throw was ruled to have been caused by batter interference by Lamar’s Cameron Niedenthal. That caused the batter to be ruled out and Sepulveda was forced to return to second base with two outs.

Paden induced Veronica Harrison to hit into a forced out at third base to end the game.

Lamar scored in the first inning with Tucker starting things off with a double to center off of Yoo. Tucker advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Sepulveda. Brandon flied out to center field, but an error by Gabby Higbee, the Nicholls center fielder on the play allowed Tucker to score.

Nicholls tied the game in the top of the fourth inning on a leadoff home run down the right field line by Alexa Poche.

Sisco came up with a two-out single in the fifth inning to set up Reagan Heflin’s run-scoring triple to give Nicholls a 2-1 lead.

Nicholls added what proved to be the winning run in the top of the seventh on a one-out single by Sisco to drive in Andersen, who opened the inning with a pinch-hit single.

Karyana Mitchell (10-3), who tossed the final six innings after Emma Wardlaw pitched a scoreless first to open the game, suffered the loss. Mitchell allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks, while striking out two.

Nicholls 4, Lamar 1: The opening game of the three-game series on Friday was scheduled as a single game but it felt like a double-header as it took 13 innings for Nicholls to come away with the win.

The game went to extra innings tied 1-1 and neither team could score again until Nicholls produced three runs in the top of the 13th inning.

Poche opened the inning by reaching base on an error and advanced to third base on a double by pinch-hitter Laylin Sturm.

After Samantha Gwiazda struck out, Brynne Songy hit a come-backer to the pitcher. Mitchell, the Lamar starter, looked Poche back to third base and tossed to first for the second out of the inning.

Going into the inning, Nicholls had stranded 11 runners in the game, but this time Higbee came up with a two-run double to right center field to give her team a 3-1 lead. Sisco later added a run-scoring single to give the Lady Colonels a three-run lead going into the bottom of the 13th inning.

After Paden got the first two batters of the inning out, Harrison, in a pinch-hitting role, doubled before Paden got Roxy Thompson to ground out to end the game.

Paden (4-2) got the win. She allowed five hits and one walk in 1 1/3 innings.

McNeill, the Nicholls starter, tossed a marathon-type game. She pitched 11 2/3 innings, tossed 149 pitches, allowed one run on five hits and four walks, while striking out eight.

Mitchell (10-3) suffered the loss. She allowed three runs on six hits and one walk, while striking out six in seven innings.

Wardlaw pitched the first seven innings. The freshman allowed one run on nine hits and one walk, while striking out three.