Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score
PINEVILLE, La. - The No. 16 Louisiana College softball team split with No. 10 Texas-Tyler here Saturday. After falling 6-3 in the first game, the Lady Cats rallied for a thrilling 5-4 victory in the second to claim first place in the always-competitive American Southwest Conference East Division.

The Lady Cats (16-2, 7-1 ASC East) trail Texas-Tyler (16-4, 6-2 ASC East) 4-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth but rallied to score three in that inning then go three-up, three-down top of the seventh to secure the win.

With one out in the sixth, sophomore Chelsea Allen (Houma, La./Vandebilt Catholic) reached on a single and stole second.

She advanced to third on a single by  junior Meggie Burkett and scored on a squeeze play initiated by senior Devan Greene (Kaplan, La./Kaplan HS).

Burkett, who legged it from first to third on the Greene squeeze, scored on a fielding error by Texas-Tyler relief pitcher Heather Abshire to not the score at 4-4.

Greene then gave LC the lead scoring from third on a wild pitch.

Junior Leslie Eastham (Baton Rouge, La./Woodlawn HS), who improved to 4-0 after pitching all seven innings and striking out three while walking no one and scattering eight hits, induced two ground outs and a pop fly from the heavy hitting Patriots to end the game.

Katelyn Thomason, who pitched 5 1/3 innings before exiting after allowing three Lady Cats to reach safely, took the loss.
Burkett went 2-for-4 while Greene went 1-for-2 with a double an RBI and a pair of runs scored to lead the LC offense.

Texas-Tyler's top performer was Thomason with a 2-for-3 showing and Rachel Howell with a homerun on 1-for-3 batting.

In the early game, the Patriots took advantage of two tough innings by LC pitcher Jordan Waldroup (Calhoun, La./West Ouachita HS), scoring two runs in the second and four in the fourth.

LC scored three runs in the seventh but were unable to close the gap.

Waldroup fell to 5-2 on the year after pitching four innings and allowing seven hits. Rudi Aycock (Olla, La./LaSalle HS) pitched the final three innings and allowed one hit while striking out one batter and walking none.

Sophomore first baseman Emily Douglas went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and Allen 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead the LC offense.

Abshire (8-1) got the win for the Patriots after pitching all seven innings and striking out three while walking one. She was also the top batter in the game with a 2-for-4 showing to go along with an RBI. Carli Wheeler went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run.