Poche walk-off homer gives Nicholls 5-4 win over HCU to open Southland softball tournament

A long day ended with one quick swing.

Nicholls first baseman Alexa Poche hit a solo home run over the center field wall in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving her team a 5-4 win over Houston Christian in the opening round of the Southland Conference tournament Tuesday night in Hammond.

The Lady Colonels, the No. 3 seed, overcame deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 to advance to take on host Southeastern Louisiana, the No. 2 seed, at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

It was a long day for both teams Tuesday, but especially for HCU. The Huskies, the No. 7 seed, defeated No. 6 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7-2 in a play-in game that began at 1 p.m.

The second game of the day in which No. 4 seed Incarnate Word defeated No. 5 seed Lamar, 7-2, went extra innings. That caused the Nicholls-HCU game to start almost two hours behind schedule.

Nicholls (30-24) trailed 4-3 before tying the game in the bottom of the sixth inning to set up the dramatic finish.

HCU pitcher Lyndie Swanson, who had pitched three innings in the first game against Corpus Christi and entered the Nicholls game in relief of Katy Janes in the fourth inning, got Erin Krause to ground out to open the seventh.

Poche hit the second pitch from Swanson out of the park to give Nicholls the win.

“That is who Alexa is supposed to be, better late than never. That’s what she’s supposed to be doing for us. I’m happy she had that moment,” Nicholls coach Justin Lewis said.

Averi Paden (8-4) picked up the win. She allowed no runs on one hit in three innings in relief of Nicholls starter Audrey McNeill. McNeill worked the first four innings. After giving up four runs in the first inning, only one of which was earned, she settled down to allow only another unearned run before giving way to Paden.

Swanson (10-8) suffered the loss. She allowed two runs on three hits, with two strikeouts in three innings.

McNeill walked HCU leadoff hitter A.B. Garcia to open the game. A fielding error by Lady Colonels second baseman Claire Sisco when a ball hit by Hayley Savage glanced off the glove of Sisco allowed Garcia to advance to third and Savage to second.

A wild pitch allowed Garcia to score the first run of the game with Garcia moving to third. After Roberts struck out, a double to left center by Maddy Bailey scored Savage. Kaicey Hagler struck out for the second out of the inning before a single up the middle Jessup by scored Bailey to make it 3-0.

“The curse of our first innings continued. It wasn’t looking good, but they fought back one at a time and stuck together. Good things happen when you do that,” Lewis said.

Nicholls tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Samantha Gwiazda led off the inning with a single up the middle and stole second base. Abby Andersen followed with a single to left center, driving in Gwiazda with the first run of the game for Nicholls, with Andersen advancing to second on the throw.

After Reagan Heflin struck out, Andersen was called out attempting to steal second base. The call was overturned with the umpires ruling Andersen had avoided the tag of HCU third baseman Tabitha Burnett.

“It was actually a missed sign. I gave her nothing, and she thought I gave her a steal. It worked out. It was an obstruction call, which was the right call there as well. Luckily, we have replay on that, and that helped us out,” Lewis said.

Following a flyout by Erin Krause, Poche walked and was replaced by pinch runner Laylin Sturm. Sturm stole second base to put two runners in scoring position. Rylie Rutherford hit a dribbler between home plate a third base. Rutherford beat the throw by HCU third baseman at first base, allowing Andersen and Sturm to score to tie the game.

“Getting the little dribbler we scored two runs on was huge,” said Lewis.

The Huskies (23-26) immediately broke the tie in the top of the fourth inning.

Jessup led off the inning with a single to center field and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Rylie Martin followed by reaching base on a throwing error by Gwiazda, enabling Jessup to score the go-ahead run.

Nicholls tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Singles by Sisco and pinch hitter Molly VandenBout got the inning started for Nicholls. After a sacrifice bunt by Gwiazda advanced the runners, Andersen grounded out, allowing Sisco to score the tying run and set up the dramatic finish.