Islanders Softball to Play Final Regular-Season Games at Nicholls

 

Islanders	Offense	Colonels
.261 (5th)	Batting Average	.269 (4th)
137 (8th)	Runs	198 (4th)
63 (4th)	Doubles	66 (2nd)
4 (T8th)	Triples	10 (T5th)
11 (T7th)	Home Runs	22 (T3rd)
.365 (6th)	Slugging %	.388 (4th)
95 (T7th)	Walks	101 (6th)
189 (2nd)	Strikeouts	190 (3rd)
.328 (6th)	On-Base %	.330 (5th)
Islanders	Pitching/Defense	Colonels
2.63 (3rd)	ERA	3.36 (6th)
230 (1st)	Hits Allowed	331 (5th)
138 (2nd)	Runs Allowed	195 (6th)
118 (6th)	Walks Allowed	97 (2nd)
246 (1st)	Strikeouts	186 (7th)
.237 (2nd)	Batting Avg. Against	.258 (5th)
45 (T2nd)	Errors	45 (T2nd)
.959 (5th)	Fielding %	.968 (3rd)
5 (9th)	Double Plays	12 (6th)

The Matchup: The Islanders and Colonels have split the past 10 games after Nicholls had won the previous 11 in a row. The Islanders won 2-of-3 the last time they played in Thibodaux in 2022, with the Colonels taking 2-of-3 last year at Chapman Field. … The two teams have taken turns ending each other's season the past two years. At the SLC tournament in 2022 in Hammond, La., the Islanders beat the Colonels 7-2 to knock Nicholls out of the tournament. The Islanders scored four in the second inning and never trailed. TAMU-CC had 13 hits as current Islanders Sydney Hoyt was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, Kimane Rogron was 2-for-4, and Paolina Baez was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. … Nicholls returned the favor last season, ending the Islanders' season with a 1-0 victory in Lake Charles, La. The Colonels scored the only run in the sixth inning on a double steal when a runner on first broke for second and got in a rundown, allowing a runner at third to score. Primrose Aholelei took the loss, allowing the one run on eight hits and four walks with six strikeouts. Hoyt was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, Rogron was 1-for-2 with a walk and Monee Montilla was 1-for-1 with a double. … Nicholls won the first game between the teams in 2007, 4-0, and the next eight after that before TAMU-CC turned the tables by winning six of the next eight. … Sidney Campion had one of the best games of her career during a 9-4 victory last season. The junior outfielder went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs scored and two stolen bases. She also walked once and had four putouts in right field.
 
Eyeing the Islanders: Junior first baseman Monee Montilla has had her average above .300 for all but two games this season. She currently leads the team in batting with a .330 average, and she has hits in five straight games and six out of the past seven. She also leads the team in doubles (9), walks (16) and on-base percentage (.433, ninth in the SLC), and she is second in slugging percentage (.500), home runs (2) and total bases (44). … The best the Islanders could finish in the regular season is a tie for fifth with Lamar, but it would require a sweep of Nicholls. Lamar is done for the regular season with a 12-12 conference record. TAMU-CC currently sits at 9-12. However, Lamar would still get the No. 5 seed based on its 2-1 series victory over TAMU-CC in early April. … The SLC softball tournament only takes the top seven teams in the conference, meaning Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Commerce have already been eliminated. With the Islanders and HCU locked into the sixth and seventh seeds, they will play each other in the opening game of the tournament at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7 on the campus of Southeastern, La., in Hammond, La. That game will be winner-take-all, while the rest of the tournament will be double elimination. If the Islanders beat HCU, they will face the No. 3 seed at 6 p.m. the same day. As of now, the No. 3 seed is UIW. … Sophomore pitcher Ariella Saenz had the best start of her career Friday against McNeese. She kept the powerful McNeese lineup scoreless through seven innings before the Cowgirls finally pushed a run across with two outs in the eighth to win 1-0. Saenz gave up just the one run on only five hits, no walks and two strikeouts. … Saenz also pitched a scoreless inning in relief on Saturday, lowering her ERA by almost a full run to 4.45. … Saenz currently leads the conference in fewest walks allowed with nine, and she's also first in fewest doubles allowed (7), sixth in fewest hits allowed (61) and eighth in fewest runs allowed (39). … Aholelei saw her ERA drop as well after she allowed just two earned runs over two games and 13 innings. She's now fourth in the SLC with a 2.07 ERA, and she's in the top three in the conference in five other categories. … Despite only playing two seasons on the Island, Aholelei will finish third all-time in wins in school history with 34, third in complete games (44) and third in strikeouts (she currently has 364). She likely will move into seventh place in games started (she has 53, just three behind the next closest) and sixth in innings pitched (she has 358.1, just 11 behind the next closest). She likely will finish third all-time in career ERA as well.
 
Say What? A&M-Corpus Christi coach Kathleen Rodriguez: "We are always chasing consistency and authenticity (playing high-level catch and having high-level at-bats all the time. I believe the approach needs to stay the same. We need to truly be in the moment and attack the situation one pitch at a time."
 
Scouting McNeese: Nicholls has played in 11 games this season that were shortened because of the run-rule. The Colonels have won five of those and lost six. … Nicholls also has played in four extra-inning games in which the Colonels have gone 3-1. … Nicholls is just 4-7 in its last 11 games, though two of those losses have come against No. 1 Texas (10-3) and No. 19 Louisiana (9-0, 6 inn.). … Sophomore outfielder Reagan Heflin leads the Colonels in batting (.331), hits (51), doubles (13), triples (3), RBIs (25) and slugging percentage (.474). She's also 8-for-8 in stolen bases. … As a team, the Colonels are 74-for-88 in stolen bases. The 74 stolen bases are the third-most in the conference, behind only Southeastern (160) and McNeese (107). … Nicholls ace Audrey McNeill is in the top 10 in the conference in six different categories, including ERA (2.26, 8th), wins (12, 6th) and strikeouts (92, 6th). … McNeill faced the Islanders twice lin the regular season ast year, taking a 3-2 win in the series opener by allowing just one run on three hits over six innings, then getting the 9-4 loss in the finale by giving up three runs on three hits in 1.2 innings. … Nicholls' other weekend starter, Molly Yoo, is no stranger to the Islanders. She pitched in all four games against TAMU-CC last year, including tossing a four-hit shutout with eight strikeouts at the conference tournament that ended the Islanders' season. She also picked up the win in the second game of the regular-season series, again allowing just four hits with one unearned run in a 6-1 win. … Yoo pitched in relief in the other two games, giving up one run on three hits with four strikeouts in the opener, then allowing one unearned run on two hits in 1.1 innings in the finale. … In total, Yoo has pitched 17.1 innings against TAMU-CC, allowing just three runs (only one earned) on 13 hits, six walks, two hit-batters and 13 strikeouts. … Yoo is 6-8 this season with a 3.42 ERA, and she's displayed a strange dichotomy in circle this season. She's ninth in the conference in fewest walks allowed with 26, but she's sixth in most wild pitches with seven, and she's hit the most batters in the conference – by far. She's hit 31 batters, which is 17 more than the next closest pitcher.
 
TAMUCC (21-18, 9-12 SLC)
Friday, May 3 – at Nicholls (26-24, 13-8), 4 p.m., Swanner Field at Geo Surfaces Park, Thibodaux, La.
Friday, May 3 – at Nicholls (26-24, 13-8), 6 p.m., Swanner Field at Geo Surfaces Park, Thibodaux, La.
Saturday, May 4 – at Nicholls (26-24, 13-8), noon, Swanner Field at Geo Surfaces Park, Thibodaux, La.
 
On Deck: This is the final regular-season series of the year. The Islanders next will play in the Southland Conference Tournament beginning Tuesday, May 7 and lasting until Friday, May 10 in Hammond, La. TAMU-CC will face HCU in the opening game of the tournament at 1 p.m. Tuesday in a single play-in game. If the Islanders win, they will move on to the double-elimination portion of the tournament and face the No. 3 seed at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The No. 3 seed currently is UIW.
 
Stay Social
For more information on Islanders Softball, keep up with the team via their Facebook page (Islanders Softball) and follow the program on Twitter (@IslandersSball) and Instagram (islanderssball). 

#ShakasUp