BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU Eunice Softball grabbed a road split of its Tuesday doubleheader at Baton Rouge CC, the start of a regular season ending eight-game road trip.  The Bengals (37-9) secured the season series against the Bears, taking three of their four matchups.
 
The Bengals could not connect on the key hit late in the opening game, falling 4-3 to Baton Rouge before rallying with a strong offensive effort in a 9-3 win.  Makinzey Elisar (Prairieville, LA, St. Amant HS) led the LSUE offense for the day, collecting five base hits.
 
The Bengals travel to Texas this weekend for a four-game series against Division I No. 6 Trinity Valley.  LSUE plays a Friday doubleheader beginning at 4:00PM and a Saturday twinbill slated for a 12:00PM start.
 
Game 1 vs. Baton Rouge CC – L, 3-4
LSU Eunice dropped its Tuesday opener with Baton Rouge 4-3 despite holding the Bears scoreless the final four innings of the game.
 
The Bengals were first on the board, using a Makinzey Elisar infield single to score Payton Prince (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS).  The Bears responded in the bottom half of the frame with back-to-back solo home runs.  The back-and-forth continued the next inning as Prince would tie the game on a RBI single before the Bears notched two more runs in their at-bat in the inning.
 
LSUE would have runners in scoring position in each of the next four innings, only converting one run in the sixth from a Gracie Higginbotham (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) sacrifice fly to inch LSUE within a run.
 
Elisar was the lone Bengal to record a multi-hit game with LSUE compiling seven hits in the contest.
 
After the early offense from Baton Rouge, Reagan Rios (Longview, TX, Longview HS) would keep the Bears down their final four offensive opportunities.  The sophomore was saddled with the loss after giving up four earned runs off eight hits and a walk.  She would strike out two batters.
 
Game 2 vs. Baton Rouge CC – W, 9-3
LSU Eunice would bounce back in the doubleheader finale, taking a 9-3 decision over Baton Rouge CC.  The Bengals jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first three innings and never looked back.
 
The Bengals used a McKenna Howell (Pollock, LA, Grant HS) two-run double in the first inning to grab hold of a lead they would never let go of.  After Baton Rouge plated a run in the bottom half of the first, LSUE was back to work in the second frame with a four-run inning.  Ciara Orgeron (Stonewall, LA, North Desoto HS) and Payton Prince jump started the inning with a pair of home runs.  Kate Rills (Gonzales, LA, East Ascension HS) capped the second inning with a RBI single.
 
Gracie Higginbotham added a sacrifice fly in the third inning to push the lead to six runs.
 
The two teams would trade runs in the latter innings as Payton Prince sacrificed home a run in the fifth and Makinzey Elisar brought home another on a bunt single RBI.  Elisar enjoyed a 3-hit afternoon as she was joined by Rills and Orgeron with multi-hit games.
 
The Bengals employed a three-pronged attack on the mound.  Erika Savage (Kingwood, TX, Kingwood Park HS) grabbed the win after three strong innings, followed by Ava Kordish (Bayou Chicot, LA, Pine Prairie HS) and Cate Nettles (Slidell, LA, Slidell HS).