Lady Bengals open season with two wins
GALVESTON – The LSU Eunice Lady Bengals opened the 2016 softball season Friday with a 5-2 win over Blinn College and a 14-5 victory over Kilgore in the Galveston College Island Invitational.
The Lady Bengals jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Blinn in the bottom of the first when Maddie Edmonston reached on a bunt single and Jaci Lavigne cleared the bases with a home run to left field.
Rebecca Skains hit a two-out double, stole third and scored on a single by Jeanmarie Angelle to give the Lady Bengals a 3-0 advantage.
Blinn answered with two runs in the top of the second inning, begun when Lauren Silver singled and Katie Andrie doubled to left field.
Cheyenne Trader doubled up the middle to score Silver and Andrie as the Lady Buccaneers closed the gap to just one run.
After two scoreless innings, LSU Eunice added two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Lady Bengals a 5-2 margin.
Edmonston reached on an error, stole second and scored on single to center by Bishop.
Skains singled to second and advanced on an error that allowed pinch runner Olivia Gabor to score as LSU Eunice pushed ahead by three runs.
Abigail Leonards earned the complete-game win as she struck out six, walked four and allowed two earned runs on eight hits over seven innings.
Skains went 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Lavigne went 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Edmonston went 1-for-3 with two runs scored as teammate Angelle went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
In Friday's second game, the Lady Bengals exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the third frame to help LSUE cruise to the 14-5 five-inning, mercy-rule win.
Hannah Vidallier earned the win as she struck out two, walked two and allowed two runs on two hits.
The Lady Bengals grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Edmonston singled to left, stole second and scored when Bishop grounded out to second base.
LSU Eunice added four more runs in the bottom of the second, begun when Kaitlyn Bertot singled and Ali Daigle ripped a home run to the right field.
Jordan Hartman singled and scored on Edmonton's double to center, who later scored on a single to left field by Bishop.
The Lady Bengals' five-run lead was cut into when Kilgore pushed across two runs in the top of the third, aided by two LSU Eunice errors.
The Lady Bengals responded with nine runs in the bottom of the frame to put the game out of reach.
Bertot singled, Wilson reached on a bunt and then Daigle cleared the bases with her second home run of the game.
Mondy walked and scored on a ground out by Lavigne, while Edmonston bunted and crossed home plate when Bishop reached on an error.
Bishop scored on Wilson's single to push LSU Eunice up, 11-2.
Hope Vizinat singled to short, Bertot reached on a Kilgore error to keep the inning alive.
Wilson, Vizinat and Bertot all scored on a double by Daigle (3-for-3, two runs scored), who finished with eight RBI in the 14- run romp.
Kilgore scored three runs in the top of the fifth but back-to-back strike outs by reliever Savannah Cates slammed the door on the Lady Rangers (1-1).
Lady pitchers Jordan Dougherty pitched one inning of no-hit ball, while Cates struck out two and allowed two earned runs on five hits.
Edmonston went 2-for-2 with a RBI, a walk, a RBI and three runs scored.
Bertot went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Wilson went 1-for-2 with a RBI and three runs scored.
Lavigne went 1-for-3 with a RBI, while Bishop went 1-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Vizinat and Hartman both went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Mondy went 1-for-1 with two walks and a run scored.
