Lady Bengals win fifth championship

Image
Body

CLINTON, Mississippi – The LSU Eunice Lady Bengals won their fifth national championship with a dramatic 8-7 win over top-ranked Jones County Junior College Saturday at Traceway Park.
Emily Henderson scored the game winning run when she advanced on a squeeze bunt by Haley Godeaux and the Lady Bengals’ celebration began.
Darby Bishop singled to open the inning and pinch runner Abby Trahan tied the game when she scored on a wild pitch.
LSUE trailed 7-6 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning after Lady Bengal defense held the Lady Bobcats forcing a double play and a ground-out to snuff an offensive threat.
Bobbi Smith reached on an error in the bottom of the sixth and scored on a single to center by Molly Wilson to close the gap to a single run.
LSUE appeared to have tied the game when Sierra Gasca singled and advanced on a wild pitch but was later tagged out on a close play at the plate to end the inning.
Jones County moved ahead 7-5 with a run in the top of the sixth inning when Kelly Byrd reached on an error and scored on a single by Emily Robinson.
The Lady Bengals’ Rebecca Skains blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to help LSUE close the gap to 6-5.
Jones County rallied for three runs in the top of the fifth to grab a 6-4 advantage, sparked by a home run by Brittany Baty.
LSUE scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth frame to retake a 4-3 lead, begun when Jeanmarie Angelle doubled and scored on a hit by Mima Doucet.
Doucet scored on a double by Gasca to help the Lady Bengals regain the momentum and a slim one-run lead.
LSUE closed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the third when Gasca walked and Skains followed with a towering home run.
Jones increased its lead to 3-0 in the top of the second, begun when Cori McCrary and Keisha Loftin both scored on a hit by Emily Robinson.
The Lady Bobcats grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the top of the first when Lofton doubled and scored on a hit by Autumn Frost.
Hannah Vidallier earned the win for LSUE as she went three innings, giving up one run, two hits, and walking one.
Lady Bengal starter Abigail Leonards threw four innings, surrendering six earned runs, 10 hits with one strikeout and two walks.
LSUE finished with 12 hits, led by tournament MVP Skains who went 3-for-4 including two home runs.
Wilson went 2-for-4, while Angelle finished 2-for-3 and Gasca went 2-for-2 in the win.

LSUE 10, Phoenix 9
LSUE’s Molly Wilson hit an one-out solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to help lift the Lady Bengals to a 10-9 win over the Phoenix Lady Bears in the winner’s bracket final.
LSUE exploded for five runs in the bottom of the second, begun when Emily Henderson walked and scored on a double by Haley Godeaux.
Mima Doucet followed with a triple to plate Godeaux.
Bobbi Smith walked, Sierra Gasca reached on a bunt and they both scored on hit by Darby Bishop as the Lady Bengals led, 5-0.
LSUE added a run in the bottom of the third when Doucet walked and scored on a double by Smith.
Phoenix rallied for four runs in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of five hits and an error.
LSUE responded with a crucial run when Rebecca Skains hit a solo home run in the bottom of the inning to extend the Lady Bengals’ lead to 7-4.
The Lady Bears closed the gap to 7-5 in the top of the fifth when Amanda Preach singled and scored on hit by Alyssa Fernandez.
Back-to-back home runs by Bishop and Henderson extended the LSUE’s lead to 9-5.
But Phoenix responded with four runs in the top of the seventh to force a tie game.
Elizabeth Fontenot and Abigal Leonards threw a strong game against a powerful Lady Bear offense that finished with 11 hits.

LSUE 12, Johnson County 2
The Lady Bengals advanced to the semifinals with an impressive 12-2 mercy-rule win over Johnson County Community College to open Friday’s doubleheader action.
The Lady Cavaliers grabbed a 1-0 lead when Tamara Hicks opened with a triple and scored on a sacrifice by Bayleigh Nelson.
LSUE responded with four runs in the bottom of the first inning and never gave up the lead.
Wilson, Skains and Henderson led off with walks to load the bases.
Jeannemarie Angelle doubled off of Meghan Deiter, driving in three runs.
Haley Godeaux singled in Angelle for a 4-0 advantage.
LSU Eunice scored five runs in the second inning to move ahead, 9-1.
Skains belted a home run to begin the rally.
Bishop was hit by a pitch and scored on a hit by Haley Godeaux, while Henderson and Angelle scored on bases loaded illegal pitch calls.
Doucet scored on hit by Wilson to complete the inning’s scoring surge.
In the bottom of the fourth, Skains hit her second home run of the game, sending in Smith (West and Maleah Saucedo and giving LSUE a 12-1 lead.
Johnson County scored a run in the top of the fifth when Madison Wegner sinled and scored on a sacrifice by Courtney Nemechek to close theg ap to 12-2.
Leonards earned the win on the mound as she e threw five innings, surrendering two runs, four hits, striking out one, and walking one.
Godeaux and Skains lead the team in batting. Both were 2-for-3 in the game. Skains three runs and four RBIs. Godeaux had two RBIs.
For just the second time in program history, Johnson County Community College defeated the No. 1 team in the country.as the ady Cavaliers took down top-seeded Jones County Junior College 10-7 in the second round to advance to face LSUE.
JCCC’s first victory over a No. 1 ranked team was a 3-0 triumph over Phoenix College at the 2007 NJCAA Championship.
Johnson County (35-7) fell into the losers bracket with the loss to LSUE and was eliminated later in the day by Illinois Central.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A complete recap of LSUE softball aoverage will be online at www.eunicetoday.com and in Thursday’s edition of the Eunice News.