Stanley Robinson
April 18, 2019
Armond Triche Sr.
April 18, 2019
With two Southland Conference series and 6 games in 5 days, this was either do or die this week for Nicholls softball.
They chose do.
The Colonels had an amazing week, sweeping through both Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist to get to 26-16 on the season and 15-3 in Southland Conference play.
Those sweeps helped solidify the Colonels’ perch as the first-place team in the Southland Conference — big wins heading into a series at McNeese State this coming weekend.
That series with McNeese will be big.
But the Colonels are ready.
They’re playing unquestionably their best softball of the season.
Nicholls rolled through Incarnate Word in a makeup series in the middle of the week, easily pushing past the Cardinals without much drama, scoring 7-1, 6-3, then 7-0 wins.
But the Houston Baptist series had quite a bit more intrigue.
In the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, the Colonels won 4-2 on the powerful arm of dominant starting pitcher Megan Landry.
Landry went the distance in the win, tossing a complete game, five-hitter in just 75 pitches.
The Colonels scored two runs in the first inning in the win on a bomb from slugger Kasey Frederick.
The Huskies tied the game with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to cause tense moments for Nicholls.
But the battle-tested Colonels answered with runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to seal the win.
The big blow was another home run from Frederick — the beginnings of a solid weekend for the Nicholls outfielder.
About 30 minutes after the first-half of the doubleheader, the Colonels swept the day, beating Houston Baptist 3-2 in one of the most thrilling games of the season.
Nicholls led 3-1 after four innings of the game with Emily Danehower throwing beautifully in the circle.
But Danehower lost a little steam in the late innings and Houston Baptist applied pressure, plating a run in the fifth inning to shave the deficit to 3-2, then loading the bases in the top of the sixth inning.
Alexis LaBure was the first Colonel out of the bullpen, but she struggled, which caused coach Angel Santiago to turn again to Landry, who responded in style.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Landry worked the count full, then induced a foul-out to retire the side and take some steam from the Huskies.
In the seventh, she breezed, getting Houston Baptist in order to seal the win.
Landry said the only thing going through her mind in the final stages was saving the game for Danehower — a player she called one of her best friends on the team.
“I was just thinking about Emily. I wanted to get the win for Emily,” Landry said. “She did most of the work and she deserved it. So I just wanted to focus on saving the game for her.”
In the finale on Saturday, there was no drama in an easy 8-1 win.
The Colonels pounced early with two runs in the first and second innings to open up a 4-0 lead.
Those runs were plenty for Landry, who was masterful again in the circle, posting another complete game, allowing just three hits and a run in 94 pitches, striking out seven in the easy win.
Frederick had another big day for Nicholls Saturday, going 2-of-3 with 2 RBI.
Melise Gossen and Caitlin Garcia also had multi-RBI games for the Colonels.
With the wins, Nicholls carries momentum into their biggest series of the season — a three-game road date at McNeese.
The Colonels and Cowgirls have somewhat separated themselves from the rest of the Southland in the past few years, having faced in the finals of the conference tournament in each of the past two seasons.
This year, Nicholls is 15-3 in the Southland — the winners of 10-straight games.
But McNeese is chomping at their heels, sitting at 14-4 in the conference slate.
The teams will play a single game on Friday at 5 p.m., then a doubleheader Saturday at noon, then 2 p.m. •
The Nicholls State University softball team swept two Southland Conference series this week, improving to 15-3 in league play, They will play McNeese this weekend in a huge series.
