THIBODAUX, La. – Laura Napoli tossed her third shutout of the year as the Lamar University Cardinals gained a split of their Southland Conference softball doubleheader with a 1-0 victory over Nicholls in eight innings in Saturday's nightcap after Nicholls claimed a 5-4 win in nine innings in the opening game.
 
Napoli (8-7) scattered five hits while walking none and striking out three. The sophomore right-hander needed just 97 pitches for her school-record 29^th career complete game, as she moved past Karen Castilaw, who threw 28 complete games in 1984.
 
"That looked like the Laura Napoli who won 19 games for us last season," LU coach Holly Bruder said. "She got ahead of the hitters and was in control the whole day."
 
Napoli was locked in a pitcher's duel with Nicholls' Megan Landry (15-7), who also allowed just five hits. Two of those hits would come in the decisive eighth inning. Sable Hankins hit a two-out double before Stephanie Meeuwsen followed with an RBI single up the middle to score Corina Thornton, who pinch ran for Hankins.Thornton's run was the 1,000th run scored by LU since reviving the program in 2013.
 
Napoli made short work of Nicholls in the bottom of the eight, setting the Colonels down in order on just six pitches as the Cardinals (32-20 overall, 18-9 Southland) wrapped up the regular season on a high note. LU will be the No. 3 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament that gets under way Wednesday in Lake Charles, La.
 
"We played a tremendous game," Bruder said of the win. "We got great defense and timely hitting. That's the way we're going to have to play in the tournament."
 
Meeuwsen had two hits for LU in the nightcap.
 
In the opener, Nicholls scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 4 before scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
 
"It's a game we should have won," Bruder said. "We made a couple of mistakes that came back to haunt us."
 
The Cardinals had a chance to win the game when they had two runners trapped in a rundown with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but failed to get an out that would have ended the game. Nicholls shortstop Amanda Gianelloni made the Cardinals pay with a two-run single up the middle to tie the score at 4.
 
LIU stranded two runners in the eighth and one in the top of the ninth before Gianelloni hit a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Colonels the win.
 
Brynn Baca had three hits, while Hankins and Maddy Myers had two hits apiece for LU. Ciara Luna (15-7) took the loss, allowing 12 hits and five runs, all earned, over eight-plus innings. Hannah Haydel (22-7) picked up the complete game win for the Colonels, allowing 10 hits and four runs, all earned, in nine innings.
 
Nicholls (38-15, 21-5) earned the No. 2 seed for the conference tourney. The Colonels and top-seeded McNeese earned first-round byes.
 
LU opens the tournament when it meets sixth-seeded Sam Houston State at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the double-elimination event. It's the third time in the four seasons since softball returned to LU that the Cardinals have qualified for the SLC Tournament. The third seed is LU's best seed in the modern era.
 
Wednesday's other first-round game sees fourth-seeded Central Arkansas take on fifth-seeded Stephen F. Austin. Nicholls meets the LU-Sam Houston State winner at 4 p.m., while McNeese takes on the SFA-Central Arkansas winner at 6:30 p.m.
 
The tournament continues with games on Thursday, with the championship round slated for Friday.
 
The first nine games of the 2016 Southland Softball Tournament will be streamed live for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including Southland.org/watch and the league's mobile and tablet apps. The championship round will be an exclusive presentation of ESPN3, available via www.WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
 
Adult all-tournament passes are available for $21 and $11 for youth. Tickets will also be available for each day of the tournament. A single-day pass is $11 for adults and $6 for youth. For ticket purposes, a youth is any child ages 5-17. All students from Southland Conference schools will receive free admission with a valid student ID, and all children ages four and younger will also be admitted free. To purchase tickets, contact the McNeese Athletics Ticket Office at 337-562-4678 or visit www.mcneesesports.com.