The Nicholls State University softball team improved their conference record with two wins over Sam Houston State this weekend.

At this point last season, the Colonels had dropped their first five games of the Southland schedule, eventually dropping the next two to start out conference play one and seven. The Colonels now hold a 16-8 record and are 4-2 in the Southland Conference.

“In my opinion, the team is on new ground,” Head Coach Angel Santiago said. “We are winning more games now, and we know we could have won the two conference games we lost.”

“It’s new to them, and consistent winning is something that I have to instill,” Santiago said. “We can take three games of any series. We are beating teams that beat us last year. We are growing up.”

Leading the team in its new direction is junior starting pitcher Hannah Haydel. Haydel (9-3) has won four of her first five conference starts, and attributes her success to her teammates providing more run support this season.

“Our chemistry is a lot better this year than previous years,” Haydel said. “We play off each other well, pick each other up when we need it and can rip into each other when we need that too.”

Santiago and Haydel both said this team has grit, and their play this past weekend proved that.
The Colonels beat the Bearkats last Friday night 5-2, a game that saw Nicholls pound 9 hits and Haydel strike out 6 batters over 7 innings. In Saturday’s double-header, the team dropped the first game 4-6 despite collecting 11 hits, including a furious 4-run last-inning effort to tie the game. Jackie Johnson took the loss for the Colonels on the mound, her third of the year.

To open the second game, the Colonels scored 5 runs over the first 3 innings in route to a 5-1 victory. Haydel earned her ninth win of the year on the mound, allowing one run and two hits over seven innings of work.
“Even though in the first game we came in the 7th inning with 4 runs, there were things we could have done to win that game 4-2 or 4-0,” Santiago said. “I shook the lineup up a little bit for the second game and we scored three runs in the first inning.”

The Colonels return to conference play this weekend, hosting the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders for a three game series starting tomorrow night at the Colonel Softball Complex. Nicholls split two games with the Islanders last year with both games going into extra innings.

The Colonels will be looking for their first conference sweep in two years this weekend. The Islanders will arrive in Thibodaux winless in Southland Conference play, riding a six game losing streak with a 4-18-1 record overall.

“Last year, I thought we were more than capable of beating them twice,” Santiago said. “We can beat them using our speed and aggressive hitting approach.”

“We got off the bus last Sunday at 2 a.m., turned the lights on and took the tarp off of the field so it can dry to ensure ourselves a shot at them this weekend,” Santiago said. “The team understands this is a potential three game sweep if they want it.”