NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State dropped both games of Saturday's doubleheader after Nicholls hit a pair of late home runs for a 9-5 win to open the day and 5-0 win to sweep the day.
 
A 2-run home run in the top of the seventh extended Nicholls' (14-10, 2-0) lead late in Southland Conference opener and a 3-run long ball in the fifth of game two provided a comfortable margin for starter Audrey McNeill to finish the win.
 
The Demons (11-14, 0-2) totaled 11 hits in the opener, compared to eight from the Colonels, but left nine runners on base and went 3-for-12 in run-scoring opportunities. Combined with a handful of miscues in the field and on the basepaths, the Demons' missed chances haunted them throughout both games.
 
"You can't play like that and expect to win," head coach Lacy Prejean said. "In all facets of the game we didn't do what we needed to today. We had some positives off the bench with some good at-bats that got things going for us and led to a couple of runs. But our baserunning errors cost us some runs and or defensive errors cost us runs too. 
 
"We didn't play where I thought we were at and we have to come out tomorrow and try and salvage the series and come out with at least one win this week. That's fight and that's grit that we need to have from the get-go tomorrow."
 
Game 1: Nicholls 9, NSU 5
 
A two-out single in the top of the first gave the Colonels the early lead in game one. After a passed ball allowed the runner, who reached on a walk, to advance to second, Nicholls took the lead with an unearned run in the first inning.
 
The Demons had an immediate answer though in the bottom of the inning after Laney Roos drew the first of her two walks in the game and Tristin Court hit the first of her three doubles in the game to put runners and second and third with one out.
 
Cameron Curtis dropped a single into right field to bring both Roos and Court in and five NSU the 2-1 lead after one.
 
The Colonels regained the lead in the third after three hits from the first four batters of the inning. A two-run double put Nicholls back ahead 3-2 and a two-out error later in the inning allowed a third run to score giving the Colonels a 4-2 lead after three.
 
The Demons got a two-run double of their own to tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. Taylor Williams and Roos started the frame with consecutive single setting the table for Court's second double to bring in a pair and tied the game at four with one out. She was left standing at third to end the inning after two strikeouts left the go-ahead run in scoring position.
 
Down by one after a sacrifice fly in the sixth put Nicholls back ahead, the Demons loaded the bases with one out after three of the first four batters of the inning reached base. Williams hit a fly ball to left that wasn't deep enough to score the run from third and a ranging play from Nicholls' short stop Samantha Gwiazda in foul territory ended the inning stranding all three runners.
 
The missed chance haunted NSU immediately as the Colonels put up four insurance runs in the seventh, with the final two coming on a 2-run home run making it a 9-4 game.
 
Court started the bottom of the inning with her career-high third double of the game and Cameron Curtis banged one off the wall in center to trade places with her. Kat Marshall drew a walk to bring the tying run to the on-deck circle, but a Colonel pitching change got the final three outs to close out the game.
 
Game 2: Nicholls 5, NSU 0
 
The Demons threatened to take the lead in the bottom of the first of game two with Taylor Williams poking a ball to right for a hit and Laney Roos drawing a walk. They moved to second and third on a swing-and-miss strikeout two batters later but a groundout to third ended NSU's only scoring chance of the game.
 
Nicholls' starter Audrey McNeill retired 16 straight batters following Roos' walk and struck out a season high nine batters along the way, keeping the Demons off balance throughout the game with the effective use of her changeup.
 
An error at third in the top of the second put the Colonels ahead and they added to their lead in the third on a double to right center that nearly scored a pair but a perfect relay from Sophia Livers to Mia Liscano to Ashlyn Walker cut down the second runner trying to score.
 
It remained a 2-0 game through the first four innings until a two-out home run to left center brought in three runs pushing the lead to 5-0, plenty of support for McNeill.
 
She struck out the side in the fifth and had her stretch of 16 straight retired snapped on a hard-hit single up the middle from Williams with one out in the sixth. The Demons has just one more baserunner after that, a walk from Walker in the seventh as McNeill finished off the complete game outing.
 
NSU and Nicholls close out the first conference series of the season on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. on ESPN+.