SOFTBALL: Colonels sweep doubleheader at Alcorn State

LORMAN, Miss. – It took some time for the Nicholls State University softball team to get its offense going against Alcorn State, as the Colonels scored all but one run after the fourth inning in their doubleheader sweep of the Lady Braves Tuesday afternoon.

Nicholls won the games, 6-1 and 8-1, to improve its record to 5-2 on the season. Alcorn State dropped to 1-5.

The Colonels will head to Florida this weekend for the EMU Madeira Beach Tournament, starting Friday, Feb. 23.

Game 1 – Nicholls 6, Alcorn State 1

Megan Landry tossed another gem, and the offense used a four-run fifth to knock off Alcorn State, 6-1, in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader.

Landry improved to 3-0 after striking out seven batters in 6.0 innings. For the season, she has a 0.66 ERA and 28 strikeouts. Robin Harrison pitched a complete game for Alcorn, allowing seven hits and struck out six.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the fifth, Nicholls had three hits and took advantage of two errors to put a four-spot on the board. Amanda Gianelloni tallied a base hit for her second RBI of the game, with her first being on a sacrifice fly in the opening frame, and Kali Clement capped the inning with a two-run single up the middle.

Landry retired the next six batters before Samantha Mracich made her first appearance of the season in the circle. She allowed a hit and issued a walk, but no runs came across the plate.

Game 2 – Nicholls 8, Alcorn State 1

The Colonels trailed 1-0 heading into the fifth, but a single by Kasey Frederick put Nicholls ahead before the offense exploded for six runs in the seventh to put the game away.

With Nicholls down a run, Mallery Marino knotted the score with a base hit, and Frederick’s infield single made it 2-1. In the seventh, an error on a sacrifice bunt led to another run before the Colonels had four run-scoring singles. Emma Holland delivered the first, followed by Gianelloni with a hit to third. Leading 5-1, Veronica Villafranco found space down the right field line to drive in two, and Moriah Strother ended the scoring with a base hit to right.

It would be more than enough run support for the Colonel pitching staff. Amanda Holliday made the start and bounced back from a first-inning run by sitting the Lady Braves down in order in three straight innings. But after she gave up her fourth hit, Alexis LaBure came in and earned the save in two innings of shutout relief.

Mracich, Villafranco and Brooklyn Devine each finished with two hits.