Lady Bengals sweep Lamar in doubleheader
By Tom Dodge
The Louisiana State University at Eunice softball team increased it winning streak to three games Wednesday as the Lady Bengals grabbed 9-1 and 9-8 wins over Lamar.
“Patience at the plate paid off,” LSUE head Brian DeWhitt said of the 11 hits and two home runs as every Lady Bengal batter recorded at least one hit in the first win. “We worked on being patient and hitting the ball to middle and not pulling the ball. Most of our hits were toward the (centerfield) scoreboard.”
LSUE (6-20) scored first in the bottom of the second inning Amanda Savoie walked and scored on a RBI by Chasity Fontenot.
“Shutting them down in the first inning and scoring before they do only builds our confidence,” DeWhitt said. “It is a big difference than playing from behind.”
The Lady Bengals added four more runs with a two-out rally in the bottom of the third inning to jump ahead 5-0.
Kimberly St. Amant doubled to left field and former Teurlings Catholic star Kami Hebert followed with a 2 RBI home run blast over the centerfield fence.
Back-to-back singles by Leigh Ann Jukes and Savoie kept the rally going as the duo scored on a 2-RBI shot by Elizabeth Kaiser to push the Lady Bengals ahead 5-0.
Lamar scored its only run in top of the fourth inning when Brooke Collins singled to center and scored on a RBI single by Jerrica Stephenson.
LSUE sealed the win with a four-run explosion in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Fontenot walked and Emmalea Dugas singled to center, but the highlight of the inning was the 3-run homer by Lindsey Babin to push the Lady Bengals up 8-1.
Jessica Cooper then singled to center, St. Amant walked and Hebert drilled a double to plate Cooper and close out the eight-run mercy rule contest.
Hebert was the top Lady Bengal hitter as she went 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Cecilia product Hannah Latiolais earned the win as she allowed one run on seven hits with two walks and a strikeout.
LSUE 9, Lamar 8
In the finale of the doubleheader, Lady Bengal third baseman Kami Hebert blasted three home runs to help lift LSUE to the win.
LSUE jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning but Lamar responded with seven unanswered runs with four in the second and three more in the fourth inning.
The Lady Bengals then scored a run in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to 7-3 and exploded for four runs in the fourth stanza to tie the game.
Lamar scored a run in the top of the sixth for a slim lead, but LSUE scored twice in the bottom of the inning to seal the win.
Fagan Willoughby earned the win as she allowed one earned run with two strikeouts and two hits over four innings in the circle.
Starter Salea Willoughby fanned two, walked three and allowed seven hits in three innings of work.
The Lady Bengals recorded 10 hits led by Hebert who went 4-for-4 with the three round trippers and a double.
Babin went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk for the Lady Bengals, while St. Amant, Jukes, Kaiser and Daigle recorded the other LSUE hits in the finale.
The wins are the longest streak of the season since the Lady Bengals defeated Texarkana, Lamar and San Jacinto in the Galveston tournament on Feb. 8-9.
“I was extremely proud of the way the team could have given up but did not and worked back to win the game,” DeWhitt said. “A few games ago we would have been mentally finished, but they made a choice and then worked hard together to finish the job.”