MONROE, La. -- The ULM softball team (27-17) defeated Grambling (13-25) 5-1 on Wednesday (April 17) at the ULM Softball Complex.

Lourdes Bacon, Meagan Brown, Layla Thompson and Brooklin Lippert all registered multi-hit games in the ULM victory. In the circle, Kassidy Giddens tossed 4.1 innings and allowed one run while striking out two. Maddie Nichols secured her third save of the season with 2.2 scoreless innings to go along with four strikeouts.

The Warhawks wasted no time taking the lead as Bacon led off the bottom of the first with an infield hit and advanced on a throwing error to third. Brown drove her in with a double on a 1-2 pitch to left. Thompson made it three straight hits and singled to bring Brown home for a 2-0 lead. Lippert singled on a bunt in the second inning and stole second. Kelsey Giddens followed with a walk, but ULM was unable to extend its lead. Grambling State doubled to start the third and swiped third base. ULM turned a double play and kept the Tigers off the scoreboard and ULM maintained its 2-0 lead.

Giddens worked around a leadoff Grambling hit and forced a double play to complete four scoreless innings. Kelsey Giddens provided her sister run support with a sacrifice fly that scored Carys Platt in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 3-0. One Tiger crossed home plate in the fifth inning on a walk. Nichols entered the game and preserved a 3-1 cushion for the Warhawks. Brown ripped her second extra-base hit of the night with a triple to right that scored Bacon to put ULM back ahead by three. Thompson drove in her second RBI by bringing home Brown to push the Warhawks' lead to 5-1. Nichols struck out two Tigers in a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Grambling State tallied a pair of singles in the seventh, but Nichols fired her fourth strikeout of the night for the final out of the night and the Warhawks were victorious in the midweek matchup, 5-1.

The Warhawks will welcome Texas State to Monroe in the next Sun Belt Conference series. Due to forecasted storms this weekend, the series schedule has been adjusted to a doubleheader on Friday with games at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. The series will conclude on Saturday at 6 p.m.