After what seemed to be hours in a two-hour lightning delay Abby Touchet stroked her fourth pitch into the outfield. That would send the LSU Eunice Bengals ablaze as they walked off with a 2-1 victory over Illinois Central in nine innings at the NJCAA Softball National Tournament on Tuesday.
The Bengals (35-20) will now move onto the winner’s bracket play as they matchup with the three-seed Louisburg College Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Choccolocco Park.
LSU Eunice was able to hit the winning run after Jessi Cary drew the lead-off walk in the bottom of the ninth. Following the walk, officials paused the game with lightening that moved into the Oxford area for almost two hours before they resumed play. Cary stole second base in a failed bump attempt by Touchet.
A classic pitching duel went down between LSU Eunice ace Chloe Bennett and Illinois Central pitcher Kiersten Manning. Bennett struck out 13 batters over the nine innings she pitched allowing only two hits and one unearned run with five walks.
ICC scored their only run of the game on a passed ball, leaving the bases loaded. Bennett caught fire after a rocky start not giving up a hit the last seven innings of action, striking out the other side in order of the final inning.
The Bengals finally got the offense going in the sixth as Madison Prejean put two Bengals on with a two-out single to left field. Mikayla Cashdollar would load the bases after a pitch off her leg leading Taylor Palmer to score the game tying run off a wild pitch during Touchet’s at bat. LSU Eunice would outhit the Cougars 4-2 on the game.