No. 1 Lady Bengals head to regionals

Top-ranked LSU Eunice opens the NJCAA Region 23 tournament at 4 p.m. today at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Miss.
The Lady Bengals, 55-2 will face Mississippi Gulf Coast (35-18) in the opening game of the tournament.
Jones County (46-2, No. 2 in the country) will meet Pearl River (27-18) in the other opening round game at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
The four teams will vie for one of the region’s two bids to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament, held May 14-17 in Clinton, Miss..
The Lady Bengals head into Ellisville as the three-time defending Region 23 Tournament champions.
“I am just excited to get back on the field again. It is a very strong field and should be an exciting tournament. I hope all of the hard work our team has put in pays off and we play up to our ability and what we are capable of this weekend,” head coach Andy Lee said.
On Friday, the two winners of Thursday’s games will square off at 1 p.m. (Game 3), followed by the losers in a 3 p.m. game (Game 4). The loser of Game 3 meets the winner of Game 4 at 5 p.m. (Game 5) in an elimination contest Friday night.
The championship game is slated for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, while the if necessary game would follow.
LSU Eunice and Pearl River met in a doubleheader in Eunice back on Feb. 18, with the Lady Bengals winning both games. It is the only meeting LSU Eunice has had this season with the three regional opponents.
The Lady Bengals faced off with all three teams in last year’s regional tournament, beating Mississippi Gulf Coast 10-0 and knocking off Pearl River 8-0.