Softball aims for top spot in conference against McNeese

After winning their series 2-1 against No. 2 Abilene Christian University, the Nicholls State University softball team will play top-ranked McNeese State University this weekend.

“It was a really big series win this weekend,” sophomore question Veronica Villafranco said. It was a good test for what’s coming up this weekend.”

After beating Abilene this weekend, Nicholls jumped up a spot in the conference rankings and is now tied for No. 2 in the Southland Conference. The Colonels are two games behind conference leader McNeese, and will need a sweep this weekend in order to pass the Cowboys in the standings.

“We just wanted to prove a point against Abilene Christian,” senior shortstop Brooke Morris said. “We wanted to show that we deserved to be up there [in the rankings] more than them.”

“We’re always fighting for that number one spot,” senior pitcher Jackie Johnson said. “We have to go into every single game from here on out with a purpose.”

The Colonels have failed to lose a single one of their ten home games so far this season, while McNeese has a record of 9-6 while playing away. McNeese has only lost one conference game this season, whereas Nicholls has dropped three. Two of those losses for Nicholls came in their last two series, against the University of Central Arkansas and Abilene.

“We were really thankful that we had two tough weekends back-to-back,” Morris said. “This weekend, Abilene was a stepping stone to McNeese.”

First pitch for the series against McNeese is at 6 p.m. Friday at the Colonel Softball Complex.