CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The Eastern Illinois softball squad returns to the field of play this coming weekend, competing in the eight-team Gamecock Invitational, hosted by South Carolina down in Columbia, S.C.
The undefeated Panthers (5-0) enter the tournament with the best record of all the teams competing and will take on Virginia on Friday, followed by Saturday games against Sacred Heart and the host Gamecocks, and finally a Sunday contest versus James Madison.
“Last weekend was a good start for Panther softball,” said EIU head coach Kim Schuette, “But we consider ourselves to be 0-0 heading into the weekend. We will definitely use the confidence gained from last weekend's play, but we have a clean start heading into this weekend.”
The squad will take a bus and drive four hours to Kentucky on Wednesday evening, with another 8-9 drive on Thursday. Since EIU has only one game on Friday morning, the team hopes to drive around a bit in the area and become tourists for a day. And as was the case last weekend, quite a few parents and fans will be heading down to watch the Panthers play again. “We had great fan support last weekend and having parents in attendance on the road allows our girls to enjoy some time with family between games,” said Schuette.
“I hope to get quite a few kids playing time, but like last weekend, we are going there to win, not just to say we were there. The best kids doing well in practice will get a chance to play. Pitching wise, we will stick with Jack (
Kathleen Jacoby) and (Amber) May, while Taylor is also doing well in practice. We will most likely need all three of them again this weekend.”
Panthers Capture NMSU Classic… EIU blanked Saint Mary's, battled past UTEP, 6-1, stunned the host Aggies twice, 4-3 and 2-1, and came back to beat Central Michigan, 7-6, to win the championship of last weekend's season-opening tournament at New Mexico State.
Copp and May Sweep OVC Weekly honors… Senior
Sarah Coppert and sophomore transfer
Amber May swept the weekly Ohio Valley Conference softball honors after helping lead the Panther squad to a 5-0 start and championship of last weekend's New Mexico State Classic.
Coppert earned 'Player of the Week' honors after hitting a team-best .500 over the weekend. The Maple Park native earned all-tournament honors after recording eight hits off 16 at-bats, including a three-run homer against UTEP and a double bagger verses Central Michigan. She finished the tourney with five RBI and two stolen bases off three attempts.
A Heartland College transfer, May made the most of her EIU debut by earning MVP honors at the Aggie Classic. She finished with a 4-0 record over the weekend with a 1.17 earned run average. She struck out 24 batters in 23.0 innings of work, walking just nine batters and holding her opposition to a .205 batting average.
It has been a couple of years since a Panther softball player has earned either 'Player of the Week' or 'Pitcher of the Week' honors, with Chesea Adams and Karyn mackie winning each honor back on May 1, 2006 and April 2, 2007, respectively.
Three Named to All-Tournament Squad… Besides
Sarah Coppert and
Amber May,
Denee' Menzione also earned a spot on the New Mexico State Classic All-Tournament unit.
Panthers In the OVC Rankings… Dating back to the end of last season
Sarah Coppert is currently riding a seven-game hitting streak, she has earned at least one hit in all five season-opening games, including three versus UTEP and two against Central Michigan. She leads the OVC for longest hitting streak, tying TTU's Coquerille with five this year. Besides Coppert,
Megan Nelson and
Denee' Menzione have also notched multi-hit games thus far this season, with two apiece, tying for fourth in the league rankings.
Coppert and Menzione are ranked No. 4 and No. 6 for individual batting with a .500 and .438 avg., respectively. Team-wise, the Panthers are third in the league with a .277 team avg. Pitching-wise,
Amber May is ranked No. 3 with a .091 ERA behind 23 innings pitched, and leads all league pitchers with 24 strike outs. May leads all conference pitchers with a 4-0 record, as well as tops in appearances. EIU is ranked No. 2 for team pitching totals, with a 1.80 squad ERA.
Megan Nelson and Angela Danca are No. 1 and No. 2 for stolen base totals thus far in the season, with four and three bags taken, respectively.
Best Start Since 1988… The 5-0 start to the season is the best since the 1988 squad went 6-0 and most definitely the best beginning since the Panthers joined the OVC back in 1997. The 1985 team also began the year with a 6-0 mark, while in 1991, the squad opened with a 9-1 mark, losing the second game of the season.
Four Dingers… Four different players earned a home run last weekend, as Coppert, Menzione, sophomore
Kiley Holtz, and freshman
Amanda Bilina went the distance. Bilina nailed a three-run bomb in the bottom of the seventh to help lead EIU to a dramatic 4-3 win over the Aggies last Saturday.
Scouting the Tourney Field… EIU's first opponent, Virginia, enters with 6-4 mark and is led by Nicole Koren with a .481 hitting average, behind 13 hits (1 double and 4 HR) and 12 RBIs. Karla Wilburn is 5-1 on the mound with a 1.26 ERA, 28 strike outs and eight walks.
The next opponent is Sacred Heart, who will open their season at the South Carolina tournament, they finished with a 23-25 record last season.
The host Gamecocks are currently 7-1, with their lone loss to College of Charleston. They have already downed future EIU opponent, Kansas, by a 3-2 score and defeated instate foe Bradley, 3-0. Five players are hitting .300 or higher, with Jill Semento leading the USC squad with seven hits, three RBI and four runs for a .389 average. Ashton Payne has 10 hits off 29 at bats, including three double-baggers. Evan Child has the only two homers for the host squad. Pitching-wise, Kierstyn White is 3-0 and Audrey Broyles comes in at 4-1, and sport a 0.00 and 0.88 RBI, respectively.
The final opponent, James Madison, enters with a 6-3 record and are being led by Amber Kirk's .400 batting average, off 12 hits, 6 RBI, two doubles and one homer. Jenny Clohan is 5-1 on the mound, behind a 2.36 ERA. Meredith Felts is 1-1 overall, but has 27 strike outs under her belt. Other teams competing this weekend include Chattanooga (5-7), North Florida (3-10) and Troy (7-3), but the Panthers are not scheduled to play against those three squads.
Coach Schuette on the Weekend... “The host South Carolina Gamecocks will be tough,” said Schuette. “As they will be playing on their home field and enter 7-1. But we also face Virginia, James Madison and Sacred Heart, and with in the sport of softball, on any given day any team is capable of getting a win, so we need to control what we can control from our dugout -- putting the ball into play, drawing strikes and making the routine plays. So we will see what happens, following good practices this week we are ready to get back to work. Hopefully the weather should be better down there than what we are having here.”
On Deck... EIU will play in yet another tournament next weekend, this time down in Kennesaw, Georgia, as the Panthers participate in the Owl Classic, hosted by Kennesaw State. EIU will play the Owls and Southern Mississippi on Friday, followed by a Saturday game against North Carolina Central.
Complete Gamecock Invitational Schedule (all times central)
Friday, February 20:
8 am … Troy (H) vs. Virginia (A)
10 am … Troy (H) vs. Sacred Heart (A)
Noon … Eastern Illinois (H) vs. Virginia (A)
2 pm … Sacred Heart (H) vs. James Madison (A)
4 pm … North Florida (H) vs. South Carolina (A)
6 pm … Chattanooga (H) vs. James Madison (A)
Saturday, February 21:
8 am … Sacred Heart (H) vs. Eastern Illinois (A)
10 am … Chattanooga (H) vs. Troy (A)
Noon … Eastern Illinois (H) vs. South Carolina (A)
2 pm … South Carolina (H) vs. Chattanooga (A)
4 pm … James Madison (H) vs. North Florida (A)
6 pm … Virginia (H) vs. North Florida (A)
Sunday, February 22:
8 am … Virginia (H) vs. Sacred Heart (A)
10 am … James Madison (H) vs. Eastern Illinois (A)
Noon … South Carolina (H) vs. Troy (A)
2 pm … North Florida (H) vs. Chattanooga (A)
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
