No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast battled to the final out of the MACJC Tournament finals Tuesday, nearly swatting the last pitch for a go-ahead home run.

The center fielder for No. 5 Jones County, however, caught Lexie Mathis' shot leaning against the wall to preserve the Lady Bobcats' 2-0 victory.

"What we did today shows what this team has been about all year," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "We came up here and played with a lot of passion and a lot of heart. We came really close to winning it right there at the end. That's credit to our players."

The Lady Bulldogs (45-5) had already qualified for the Region 23 Tournament, which starts Friday in Eunice, La. Gulf Coast will play top-ranked LSU-Eunice (51-5) in the second game, scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.

Jones (42-6) opens with No. 10 East Central (43-9) at 1 p.m.

The top two teams from that four-team tournament advance to the NJCAA Division II World Series in Clinton, Miss., on May 17-21.

Alyssa Hardy singled to open the top of the seventh, and Kaitlin Lee had a one-out single.

Mathis, who had hit home runs in two games Tuesday night and lead the team with 17 home, put a charge into a 2-1 pitch but it wasn't quite enough.

Gulf Coast finished with six hits, four of them in the last two innings against Jones' Rachel Hayes. They had two on with two out in the six, but the Lady Bobcats shortstop made a diving, over-the-shoulder catch to squelch the rally.

Kaitlin Lee (22-3) took the loss, giving up seven hits.

"You have to give them credit because they're a good team or they wouldn't be here," Long said. "We look forward to playing in the region tournament."

MACJC Tournament

Friday

Game 1: Gulf Coast 3, Itawamba 2

Game 2: Jones 5, East Central 1

Tuesday

Game 3: East Central 7, Itawamba 5, Itawamba eliminated

Game 4: Jones 3, Gulf Coast 1

Game 5: Gulf Coast 10, East Central 1 (5 innings), East Central eliminated

Wednesday

Game 6: Jones 2, Gulf Coast 0, Gulf Coast eliminated

Region 23 Tournament

Eunice, La.

Friday

Game 1: No. 5 Jones vs. No. 10 East Central, 1 p.m.

Game 2: No. 3 Gulf Coast vs. No. 1 LSU-Eunice, 3:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 10:30 a.m.

Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.

Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 3:30 p.m.

Sunday

Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, noon

Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, if necessary, 2:30 p.m.