EUNICE, La. – No. 3 Mississippi Gulf Coast got an early advantage on No. 1 LSU-Eunice on the Lady Bengals' home field, but couldn't hold on Friday.

The Lady Bulldogs (45-6) lost 4-3 in the opening round of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament and now must win a pair of games Saturday to advance to the national championship tournament.

"We came over here and played our hearts out, but just came up a little short," Gulf Coast coach Kenneth Long said "I can't be any more proud of the team and the way they played."

The Lady Bulldogs play No. 11 East Central in an elimination game at 1 p.m. The winner of that game advances to another elimination game at 3:30, where the loser of Saturday's first game will await.

LSU-E and No. 5 Jones County face off at 10:30 a.m., with the winner advancing to Sunday's championship round. Jones defeated ECCC 3-2 in Friday's first game.

Gulf Coast took a 2-0 lead over LSU-E (52-6) in the second inning. Camry Griffith had a two-out RBI single, and Brittany Cooley followed with a double to score the speedster.

The Lady Bengals got one back in the second on a two-out single, but Deborah Elmore came right back with a two-out single of her own to score Kaitlin Lee.

LSU-E tied it up in the fourth, then took the lead in the bottom of the sixth with another two-out single.

Cooley had two hits, and Hannah Melendrez, who scored the game's first run after doubling, extended her 13-game hitting streak.

"Kait fought on the mound, we fought on defense and we hit as good as we can hit against good pitching," Long said. 'I thought we did really well."

Lee (22-4) took the loss, giving up nine hits and striking out two.

Gulf Coast is 3-0 against East Central this season, most recently beating the Lady Warriors 10-1 in five innings Tuesday in an MACJC Tournament elimination game.

"We'll have to come out and play hard because they're a good team," Long said. "We have to forget about the fact we've beat them a few times and make sure we're focused and play hard tomorrow."

Region 23 Tournament

Eunice, La.

Friday

Game 1: Jones 3, East Central, 2

Game 2: LSU-Eunice 4, Gulf Coast 3

Saturday

Game 3: Jones vs. LSU-Eunice, 10:30 a.m.

Game 4: East Central vs. Gulf Coast, 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.