EUNICE, La. – Pitching and defense paved the way for LSU Eunice Softball to score a doubleheader sweep of Division I ranked No. 23 Galveston College on Wednesday at Lady Bengal Field. The twinbill caps a perfect eight-game homestand for the Bengals (21-5).
LSU Eunice battled a stingy Whitecaps squad and windy conditions to take a pair of tightly contested games. The Bengals walked off in dramatic fashion to begin the games with a 2-1 victory in eight innings, followed by a 2-0 shutout to close out the doubleheader. The starting pitching duo of
Reagan Rios (Longview, TX, Longview HS) and
Ava Kordish (Bayou Chicot, LA, Pine Prairie HS) shined, combining for 14 innings of work while giving up just one earned run off 11 hits and 2 walks.
The Bengals hit the road for a Friday doubleheader at Northeast Texas CC before returning home for a Monday, March 10 doubleheader against Angelina College. The action on Monday is slated to start at 4:00PM.
Game 1 vs. Galveston College – W, 2-1 (8 Innings)
Jadyn Yesso (Houma, LA, Houma Christian HS) smashed a two-out double to set off a celebration as LSU Eunice upended Galveston College 2-1 in eight innings. It was LSUE's second extra inning walk off win of the season.
Yesso drove in both LSU Eunice runs of the game, breaking a scoreless tie in the fourth with a sacrifice fly.
Makinzey Elisar (Prairieville, LA, St. Amant HS) came home to score both Bengal runs, capping off a 4-for-4 afternoon for Elizar. The freshman set the table in both scoring opportunities for LSUE, hitting a double in the fourth before scoring and dropping a bunt in the eighth that a Galveston error helped advance her to scoring position.
Reagan Rios dazzled in the circle for LSU Eunice, tossing her third complete game of the season. Rios (8-1) would leave three runners stranded in scoring position the first two innings of the game and not face traffic until the latter stages. The sophomore produced back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth after Galveston put a runner on third base and came close to ending the game in regulation, giving up a two-out double that would tie the game in the seventh inning.
Rios scattered five hits and one walk while registering seven strikeouts in the contest.
Game 2 vs. Galveston College – W, 2-0
It was another pitching duel against the Whitecaps that saw LSU Eunice come out on the better end in a 2-0 shutout victory.
LSU Eunice manufactured its first run of the game in the third inning as Makinzey Elisar singled home
Bella Halata (Friendswood, TX, Friendswood HS) to put the Bengals on the board.
Kate Rills (Gonzales, LA, East Ascension HS) produced an insurance run in the fifth with a RBI single to right field, scoring Payton Prince.
Rills was joined by Jadyn Yesso,
Gracie Higginbotham (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) and Halata with multi-hit games in LSUE's 11-hit attack.
It was Ava Kordish's turn to battle in the circle in the finale, hurling six innings in the win. Kordish worked out of two jams – getting a fly out and line out in the third to leave two runners in scoring position stranded, and getting a strikeout and pop out in the sixth with two more runners in scoring position.
Kordish (8-2) gave up six hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts.
Erika Savage (Kingwood, TX, Kingwood Park HS) picked up her first save of the season, putting down the Whitecaps in order in the seventh including a strikeout.
