HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – LSU Eunice Softball opened up its 2023 season with a doubleheader split at National Park College on Sunday.
The Bengals were quick out of the gate, taking the opener 6-1 before falling 11-2 in the finale.
The Bengals will be back in the Acadiana area this weekend as they head to Youngsville to play in the Mardi Gras Invitational.
Game 1 vs. National Park College – W, 6-1
LSU Eunice used a season opener gem from
Chloe Bennett (Rosepine, LA, Rosepine HS) to push past National Park, 6-1. Bennett struck out 13 batters in her sophomore debut, her eighth double digit strikeout game of her LSUE career.
Bennett subdued the Nighthawk offense early, not allowing a baserunner to reach scoring position until the fifth inning. After allowing a one out triple in the fifth, she would strikeout the last two batters to stop the threat. NPC would piece together a pair of two out hits in the final inning to score its lone run of the game.
She scattered five hits and a walk in the complete game effort.
The offense would come alive in the middle innings as
Maddie Chretien (Lake Charles, LA, Barbe HS) drove in the first runs of the season on a two-out two-run double in the fourth.
Madison Prejean (Lafayette, LA, St. Thomas More HS) would make it 3-0 LSUE in the sixth with a double to bring home
Sina Ballew (Pineville, LA, Buckeye HS).
Maci Baldwin (Moss Bluff, LA, Sam Houston HS) provided insurance in the seventh, lacing a two-run single. She would then steal a pair of bases and come home to score on a
Kaitlyn Savant (Livingston, LA, Doyle HS) sacrifice grounder.
Mari Baldwin (Moss Bluff, LA, Sam Houston HS) and
Sara Roussel (Luling, LA, Hahnville HS) collected multi-hit games in LSUE's 10-hit attack.
Game 2 vs. National Park College – L, 2-11
The Bengals' unforced errors came back to hurt as LSUE fell 11-2 to split its season opening doubleheader with National Park.
LSUE was first on the scoreboard as
Gracie Bailey (Watson, LA, Live Oak HS) laced a two-out single to score Maci Baldwin. The tables would turn as the Nighthawks scored 11 runs in the first three innings with only six of them earned.
The Bengals would issue five free passes and commit four errors in NPC's offensive flurry.
Kaitlyn Savant would plate the final run of the game in the top of the fifth with a single to plate Mari Baldwin.
