Softball to play away following Southeastern sweep

After their second Southland Conference series sweep last weekend against Southeastern Louisiana University, the Nicholls State University softball team will travel to play the University of Central Arkansas this weekend.

Nicholls swept Southeastern after a five inning 9-1 and a 4-3 victory on Friday and 9-7 win on Saturday. The Colonels have swept two of their three Southland Conference opponents this season.

“We just have to have the right mindset going into each game,” Kasey Frederick, a sophomore outfielder for Nicholls, said.

“[We’re] just trying to hit a lot of ground balls, stay away from pop flies and just make them make errors,” freshman outfielder Samantha Mracich said.

The Colonels also tallied their highest number of runs in individual games since their 20-0 victory over Mississippi Valley State University on February 18. Those scores were highlighted by Frederick’s 6 hits throughout the weekend.

“All this weekend, we knew all that they [Southeastern] were throwing was inside, so that’s where we set our mindset and we did really well,” Frederick said.

Frederick earned the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week award for her performance against Southeastern. This was the first time this season a player from Nicholls was awarded.

“It’s a pretty big deal, especially for me, because at the beginning of this year I didn’t really start out great,” Frederick said. “In conference, I really picked my game up.”

In only Southland Conference games this season, Frederick has held the highest batting average (.565), slugging (1.087) and doubles percentages (7) of any player in the Conference. Frederick is second overall in batting averages for Nicholls throughout the whole season.

“I’m just doing it for my team,” Frederick said.

The next series for Nicholls will be away this weekend at the conference’s eighth-ranked Central Arkansas, who has a 3-6 record in the Southland Conference this season.

“I know that they lost their best pitcher and their best catcher from graduating last year,” Frederick said. “We just have to have good defense because we know they’re a good hitting team.”

Including the series against Central Arkansas, the next six games for the Colonels will be on the road.

“[We’re] just coming out prepared and focused each and every time,” Mracich said.

“This is where we’re going to have to be mentally tough, not just physically, because we’re all going to be tired,” Frederick said. “As long as we keep our head in the game we’re going to be fine. We just have to have a good mindset going into each game.”

The Colonels, currently ranked second in the Southland Conference, have an overall record of 22-11 this season. A large number of their wins came from their 8-1 conference record, an improvement over their 6-2 start through their first three conference series last season.

“I think we’ve grown individually and as players. We’re finally coming together a little bit,” Mracich said.

First pitch for this weekend’s series will be at 4 p.m. on Friday in Conway, Arkansas.