EUNICE, La. - Jones College did all its work with two outs on the board, as the second-ranked Lady Bobcats scored four runs in the third and one in the fourth in Thursday's 5-0 Region 23 Tournament opening round victory against Northwest.

Northwest fell to 19-17 on the season with the loss, while Jones College captured its 40th win of the season and improved to 40-7 overall.

Aside from a couple isolated base hits, all was quiet for both teams until the bottom of the third inning. With two outs on the board, a Lauren Lindsey single and a walk to Lauren Pope put two runners on for the Lady Bobcats, setting up back-to-back doubles from Meagan Wynne and Maycee Knight. 

Leading 3-0, Jones College closed out the third inning with an RBI-double down the left field line from Tia'Rain Saunders, pushing the Rangers' deficit to 4-0.

Molly Harris provided a spark for Northwest in the top of the fourth with a leadoff single, but was left stranded on third base to end the inning.

Thanks to a sudden gust of wind, Jones College added its fifth and final run in the bottom of the fourth on a bloop single to right field that fell just shy of the outstretched glove of Laila Armstrong. Earlier in the second inning, Armstrong threw out a runner trying to score from second on a single to right field that kept the Lady Bobcats off the board.

Despite the five-run hole, Northwest continued to swing the sticks, but the Rangers were ultimately unable to scrape any runs across the plate.

For Jones College, Nia Luckett (14-4) continued to be the strong arm, striking out six batters against two walks in 5.2 innings. Sterling James closed out the final 1.2 frames, delivering three strikeouts with one hit allowed.

Kaylei Peterson fell to 10-10 on the season after tossing a strikeout through three complete innings. Meagan Allen polished off the final three innings with a pair of strikeouts and an earned run.

Jones College outhit Northwest 8-4 in the contest, with Harris, Molly Beth Ferguson, MyCala Helms and Saige Koczka delivering one hit each for the Rangers. Knight's 2-for-2 day led the Lady Bobcats at the plate, followed by two hits from Lindsey and Saunders.

With the loss, Northwest now finds its back to the wall and will have to fight off elimination against tournament host and 15th-ranked LSU Eunice. The contest will kick off Day Two of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament, with first pitch slated to begin at noon on Friday.

Tomorrow's broadcast can be seen on LSU Eunice's YouTube channel, with live stats provided at nwccrangers.com.