THIBODAUX – The country’s youngest college softball team pulled another shocker on the road Thursday when a three-run DJ Lynch homer and a two-hit pitching gem by Brooklyn Stohler gave Northwestern State a 5-1 victory that ended a 16-game winning streak by Nicholls.
For the first time this season Northwestern, with 11 freshmen and only one upperclassman, earned a split in a Southland Conference doubleheader, responding with the wire-to-wire win after a 3-2 walk-off defeat in the first game Thursday. The teams wrap up the series this afternoon at 1.
The Demons (6-40, 3-20) took first-inning leads in both games and led the hot Colonels (27-21, 16-7) for 12 of the 14 innings played in the twinbill. Nicholls scored single runs in each of the final three innings of Game 1 to extend their winning streak to 16 straight but Northwestern wasted no time in setting a different tone for the second game.
“It was a quick message between games,” NSU first-year coach Jenny Fuller said. “I told them it looked like Nicholls wanted it more than they did. I was pleased with the response they showed from that. We came out and scored four runs in the first inning and that was enough for Brookylnn.”
Lynch doubled in a run in the first inning of the opener and in Game 2 she took it out of the park in her first trip to the plate, clubbing a three-run shot. A wild pitch allowed Northwestern to carry a 4-0 advantage out of the top of the first, and Stoehler didn’t allow Nicholls to get going.
“Whenever we’re up like that it just lets me relax and trust my stuff,” Stohler said. “I know that my team has my back and I can just play more relaxed.”
She induced 15 fly ball outs, in typical Stohler fashion, to hold a Nicholls offense that was averaging more than 11 hits per game during the long winning streak to the Colonels’ fewest hits in a conference game this year.
Only the Ole Miss and Tennessee pitching staffs have held Nicholls to two hits or fewer in a game this season.
Lynch’s fourth RBI of the game and fifth of the day came in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly to deep center, stretching the NSU lead to 5-1.
TENNIS: The Lady Demons clinched at least a share of the Southand Conference championship at home Monday with their second straight 4-3 league win. Saturday, they try to win the crown outright and complete an unbeaten SLC regular season when they visit third-place Stephen F. Austin.
NSU (9-6 overall, 8-0 in the SLC) takes on SFA (13-6, 7-1) at 11 a.m. in Nacogdoches, Texas, to finish the regular season. A win locks up sole possession of the SLC title and a top seed in next weekend’s SLC Tournament. SFA’s only league loss is a 4-3 homecourt decision at the hands of second-place A&M-Corpus Christi, which fell 4-3 to NSU in March. The Ladyjacks can create a three-way tie for the conference championship with an upset Saturday.
TRACK & FIELD: In Waco, Texas, Northwestern’s men and women begin competition today in Baylor’s Michael Johnson Invitational, a two-day meet.
It is a loaded field, as 24 teams are participating, including Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, South Carolina, TCU and three fellow Southland schools: UIW, Stephen F. Austin and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
“We need to go and get some great work in,” NSU coach Mike Heimerman said. “We are looking forward to going there and competing against some great competition and letting the kids learn how to compete against that type of competition. That is why we go to those big meets because they need to know how to handle that pressure and perform under it.”
Maygan Shaw is coming off an incredible performance, running a 51.87 in the 400-meter dash at last Saturday’s Leon Johnson NSU Invitational, setting a Southland Conference record, as well as erasing Walter P. Ledet Complex, meet and school records as well.
That was one of two wins for the senior, who was voted the SLC Female Track Athlete of the Week on Wednesday. She also ran first as a member of the 4×100 relay team, whose time of 44.94 is the top mark in the league this season.
Shaw holds the best time in the SLC in the 200, 400, and as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays, and is second in the 100.
She is one of four Northwestern athletes leading the SLC in individual events, joined by Kalli Knott (women’s pole vault), Roy Morris (men’s long jump) and Randy Kelly (men’s high jump). Three of the SLC’s four best relay times are owned by NSU foursomes.
