Leading the Lady Colonels softball team with 15-9 record and top 20 rank in the nation with 216 strikeouts, junior pitcher Dionne Meier is becoming a force for the Lady Colonels on the softball diamond this season.
Meier, a native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, transferred to Nicholls from Galveston College in Galveston, Texas before the season. During a two-year stint at Galveston College, Meier captured a conference title and was named a National Junior College Athletic Association All-American.
During her first start as a Lady Colonel, Meier quickly turned heads with a no-hitter performance against the University of Mississippi. She struck out 11 and walked three.
“It was great. Our defense helped me out a lot, and when you have a strong defense behind you, stuff like that can happen,” Meier said.
This season, Meier is third in the Southland conference in strikeouts with a 1.92 ERA.
“My favorite and most successful pitch is the rise ball. I think it is more fun when I throw the change-up because the batter just stands there and watches the ball go by. That is why I like it,” she said.
Meier said she chose to come to Nicholls because it gave her an opportunity to play in a comfortable setting.
“When I came on my first visit, I felt like I fit in with them a lot. The girls and the coaches are really friendly, and I just loved the people and the atmosphere a lot,” Meier said.
According to her teammates, they are happy that she made her decision to become a Lady Colonel.
“Dionne has been a huge part of our team. We had Nichole (sophomore pitcher Wagner) last year, and she had no one to work off of. They are now a great tandem for us. They are learning from one another, which makes it better for the defense and the team,” Sarah Eads, junior outfielder, said.
“We are very pleased to have her in this program because she is a quality person. She has been a good addition to our program, and we can’t ask for anything more from Dionne,” Phyllis Guedry, head softball coach, said.
Being 2, 208 miles from her home in Canada, Meier said she misses her family but now appreciates the family she has at Nicholls.
“When I first moved away, it was very tough at first to get adjusted. Now I have two families. I have my family here and my family back at home.”
Although hockey is the national sport of Canada, Meier said she developed a love for softball while growing up with her neighborhood friends.
“I was always interested in softball. My best friends who I grew up with always played, so I played. I was interested because my friends were so interested,” she said.
While attending E.D. Feehan high school in Saskatoon, Meier spent three seasons on the volleyball team and one on the basketball team. At E.D. Feehan, there was no softball team.
“We didn’t have high school softball. In high school, we played in our own leagues. It was just a lot of girls from all over the city that would get together and play on teams,” Meier said.
With the Lady Colonels making the Southland Conference tournament for the first time since 1998, Meier said she is not surprised with the team’s accomplishments this season.
“I am not surprised by the success this season because we knew we had a lot of talent. I am excited that we are going to conference and the team hasn’t gone to conference in a while,” Meier said.
“I think we could have been more successful, but we made it to conference and that was our goal. Now we just have to take it from here and try to make it to regionals,” Meier said.