ATHENS, Texas – LSU Eunice Softball split a Friday doubleheader at Trinity Valley CC, scoring another win against a NJCAA Division I team ranked in the Top 10.  The Bengals (38-10) upended the No. 6 Cardinals in the first game of the day, their second victory against a Top 6 team in Division I.
 
LSUE is the only Division II team in the nation to have a pair of wins against Division I top 10 ranked teams this season, defeating Northwest Florida State earlier this year.
 
The Bengals jumped out to a big lead in the opening game with TVCC before using an extra inning home run to lift LSUE to an 8-6 opener.  LSUE would take control early in the finale but fell 7-3 to close out the day.
 
LSU Eunice closes out the regular season with a trip next week to Bossier Parish CC.  The Bengals will then turn their attention to the NJCAA Division II Softball Region 23 Tournament from May 2-4.
 
Game 1 vs. Trinity Valley CC – W, 8-6 (Eight Innings)
LSU Eunice jumped out to a 5-0 lead and use an extra inning home run to take down Trinity Valley 8-6 to open the day.  The Bengals improved to 4-0 this season in extra-inning games.
 
LSUE exploded out the gate, using a pair of sacrifice flies in the first inning, a fielder's choice, and two-run Kate Rills (Gonzales, LA, East Ascension HS) RBI single to take a 5-0 advantage in the first two innings.
 
The Cardinals would chop away, cutting the deficit to 5-4 before Rills added another LSUE run on a sixth inning sacrifice fly.  TVCC pushed the game to extra innings with two runs in the sixth.
 
That set the stage for Payton Prince (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS), launching a two-run home run to left field in the eight inning.  Erika Savage (Kingwood, TX, Kingwood Park HS) held off the Cardinals, getting out of a one-out bases loaded jam in the bottom of the inning with a fielder's choice and fly out to end the game.
 
Rills had a career-high four RBIs in the victory.  A quartet of Bengals had multi-hit games, part of a 10-hit output by the LSUE offense.
 
Game 2 vs. Trinity Valley CC – L, 3-7
A pair of big innings was too much for LSUE to overcome, falling 7-3 to close out the day's doubleheader with Trinity Valley. 
 
After two scoreless innings to begin the game, LSU Eunice would get on the scoreboard first.  Kate Rills drove home a pair of runs on a line drive single, one of two hits in the game for the sophomore.
 
TVCC answered with a four-run fourth inning, taking its first lead of the day.  LSUE would claw back to within a run an inning later, using a Corin Waguespack (Gonzales, LA, East Ascension HS) RBI single.  The back-and-forth would continue as the Cardinals put the game out of a reach with a two-out three-run double.
 
LSUE would out hit TVCC 9-7, led by two-hit games from Makinzey Elisar (Prairieville, LA, St. Amant HS), Makinley Harris (Denham Springs, LA, Denham Springs HS), Gracie Higginbotham (Sulphur, LA, Sulphur HS) and Rills.