Darby Bishop recently capped her LSU Eunice career with back-to-back NJCAA softball championships. Bishop, a Newton County alumna, occupied first base for the Lady Bengals in her two years at the school.

LSU Eunice (53-11) defeated Jones County Junior College 8-7 earlier this month, marking the second year in a row the Lady Bengals drew the Lady Bobcats in the championship.

LSU Eunice’s come-from-behind championship win was sparked by a Bishop single in the bottom of the seventh inning that set the table for a two-run frame to clinch the win.

Bishop finished the season with a .378 batting average and a .543 slugging percentage. She played in 58 games and recorded 71 hits, while scoring 43 runs and hitting four home runs. She’ll play softball at Mississippi’s Blue Mountain College next season.

“This year was different because not a lot of people thought we were going to be as good because we lost four starting sophomores,” she said. “Our team wasn’t as close at the beginning of the year… After that, we just became closer and got together as a team.”

As a freshman, there was no learning curve for Bishop, as she ended the season with her name on the All-American team. That year, she batted .480, tallied 80 RBIs, rattled off 95 hits and scored 50 runs. Bishop said her first-year surge was, in part, a means to cope with being away from home.

“My freshman year when I first got there, I was nervous,” she said. “I was five hours away and I didn’t know anybody. So I wanted to outwork everybody my freshman year.”

The Lady Bengals went 58-8 during Bishop’s freshman season and drew Jones County for the national championship. But an injury forced her to watch from the dugout as LSU Eunice played her home-state team.

“Last year during the national championship, I hurt my thumb and broke it, so I didn’t get to play the last game,” she said. “So it was a lot different this year because it was like my first time playing them, and it was just big for me.”

Bishop said the change in pace of play from Newton County to college was striking, but she credited Lady Cougars coach Justin Chaney’s instruction in high school with preparing her for the next level.

“Playing for Coach Chaney helped me out a lot, because he was hard on us, too, and we would do so much in practice going over bunt coverages, first and third, so when I went to college I was used to having long and hard practices,” Bishop said. “I was just so prepared mentally and physically when I went to college because we did so much in high school.”

Bishop is the daughter of Randy and Shea Bishop.