Nicholls State softball head coach Angel Santiago feels his team is improving, and he believes other teams are starting to take notice.
“The word is getting out. Things are getting better here,” Santiago said.
The Colonels are 7-7, but the majority of their losses come from much larger schools around the country such as LSU, Virginia, South Alabama and Memphis.
Santiago gained confidence in a tournament the Colonels participated in at LSU before Nicholls went 3-1 in the Blues City Classic in Southaven, Miss. last weekend.
In the Purple & Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, Nicholls only won one of its four games, but the Colonels competed closely with Memphis, Virginia and LSU, losing each game by only one run.
Santiago was thrilled by the play of his young squad.
“What we did was uncharacteristic of the Nicholls program in the last year,” Santiago said.
“I think they opened a lot of people’s eyes. I thought the LSU crowd saw a big improvement in us. It was awesome to see all of the Nicholls red in the grand stands.”
As the Colonels battled each team closely and beat a North Dakota club, who sat at No. 79 in the RPI rankings at the time, Santiago said the opposition was scratching their heads in the other dugouts. He said they were unaware of the maturity of his group.
“You’re going to see a gradual change in the attitude of the players here,” Santiago said. “Good teams have that swag, and they have that attitude without being arrogant, and that’s what we’re trying to find right now.”
Santiago was most impressed by his pitching, which he called the “strength of this team right now.”
 Senior pitcher Ashton Bennett hit a two-run homerun against the Tigers and held LSU to a single run, while junior pitcher Katie Moulder pitched eight innings against Virginia.
Santiago was least impressed with his bats in the tournament though. The Colonels scored a total of eight runs against four teams at the Purple and Gold Challenge, but the Colonels bats improved when they faced Indiana State, Southeast Missouri State, Missouri-Kansas City and Belmont the following weekend. Nicholls State scored a total of 17 runs in the tournament, which led to the Colonels reaching the .500 mark on the season.
Santiago feels that his team’s improvement will demand the best from his opponents. Instead of seeing opponents’ third best pitchers, Nicholls State is now going to see opposing clubs’ aces.
“After people see the changes here at Nicholls, they’re not going to throw their No. 3 against us. If they did throw their No. 3, we’d have a bunch of wins right now. But that’s not the case. Teams are coming at us as hard as they can,” Santiago said.
The Colonels look to continue their success against UAB this Friday, as they travel to Birmingham, Ala. for the Magic City Classic Tournament.