No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast gets very little time to process Wednesday's disappointment loss in the MACJC Tournament finals ahead of the NJCAA Region 23 version.

The Lady Bulldogs (45-5) play host LSU-Eunice (51-5) at 3:30 p.m. Friday. 

"It's a huge, quick turnaround after the state tournament, that's for sure," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said. "We just have to put everything behind us and focus on that first game, which is the No. 1 team in the nation."

The first round of the tournament begins at 1 p.m., when No. 5 Jones (42-6), which won the state title, plays No. 10 East Central (43-9).

LSU-E is batting .400 as a team, led by Darby Bishop who is hitting .484 with 10 home runs and 74 RBI. Rebecca Skains is hitting .478 with 20 home runs and 70 RBI.

The Lady Bengals have a 2.75 ERA, compared to Gulf Coast's 0.98. Kaitlin Lee's ERA stands at 0.67, and she stands to see the bulk of the work in Louisiana.

The Lady Bulldogs are batting .368, with Hannah Melendrez and Lexie Mathis both hitting .448. Melendrez is riding a 12-game hitting streak.

The top two teams from the Region 23 tournament advance to the national championship in Clinton, Miss., which will be played May 18-21.

"I like the way this team competes," Long said. "We didn't' make ourselves any breaks during the tournament, but we played really hard.

"Sometimes you've got to take a step back and look at what we've accomplished so far. I'm proud of this team, but I don't think we're done. I think we're going to come out and play really well."

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.

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