Eastern Illinois softball rallied in its second game on Friday to split a pair of games at the Mardi Gras Mambo.  EIU lost 10-2 to Nicholls in the opener before bouncing back to beat Louisiana Tech, 4-2.

NICHOLLS 10, EIU 2 (6)
Eastern Illinois jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in their Friday opener at the Mardi Gras Mambo before Nicholls rallied to pick up a 10-2 win over the Panthers.
 
Lexie Griffin drove in the Panthers opening run of the game in the second inning with an RBI double scoring Lizzie Stiverson from second.
 
Nicholls responded in the bottom of the third tying the game at 1-1 on a Ally Mooneyham RBI single to left.  The Colonels took advantage of two EIU errors in the inning to take a 3-1 lead against EIU starting pitcher Karlie McKenzie (0-3).
 
The Panthers trimmed the lead down to one run in the fourth as Stiverson drove home Alisha Frederick.   Frederick was 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the EIU offense with a double.
 
The Colonels went on to score multiple runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to pick up the win and improve to 3-2 on the season.
 
Reagan Heflin had a two-run single in the fifth followed by a sacrifice fly in the sixth driving in three Colonels runs.   Molly Yoo (1-1) pitched the complete game.
 
EIU fell to 2-5 on the season with the loss.  Abbi Hatton joined Frederick and Griffin as Panthers with hits in the game.
 
EIU 4, LOUISIANA TECH 2
Abbi Hatton hit her first home run of the year with a two-run shot in the sixth to lift Eastern Illinois to a 4-2 win over Louisiana Tech improving the Panthers to 3-5 on the season.

Trailing 2-0 heading into the fifth inning, EIU tied the game with a pair of runs in the frame scoring first on a Mo Hance RBI single to left followed by a Sophia Olman RBI single up the middle.

In the sixth, Hatton delivered what proved to be the game winning hit with a two-run shot to right center scoring Alisha Frederick.  Frederick was one of three Panthers to finish the game with two hits going 2-for-4.

Olman (2-for-3) and Lizzie Stiverson (2-for-3) added the other multi-hit performances for EIU.

In the circle Rylan Gick (1-0) picked up her first win of the season with a complete game effort allowing just one earned run with five strikeouts.

Reagan Marchant put Louisiana Tech on top in the third with an RBI groundout in the infield.  The Bulldogs second run came in the fourth inning on an EIU error allowing Carolina Eidson to score.

Elena Heng had three of the six Bulldogs hits while Ruby Fidge (0-1) took the loss in relief for Louisiana Tech as they dropped to 6-1 on the season.