Game #43 Box: PDF | HTML
Season Series Stats (PDF) | Photo Gallery (Mark Pieper)

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois softball defeated Austin Peay, 11-2, in a five-inning rout on Saturday afternoon to earn the squad's eighth consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season series win as the Panthers captured two of three road games over the Lady Govs.

The key rubber-game win came about after EIU split the Friday action, losing an eighth-inning heartbreaker before the Panthers earned a multi-run nightcap win. Eastern improves to 34-9 overall and 21-3 in league action with the weekend series victory.

The series win was especially key for the Panthers as next weekend's OVC opponent, Jacksonville State, lost two-of-three games at UT Martin this past weekend to drop the Gamecocks behind the league-leading Panthers by two full games. Compared to JSU, EIU won three straight over UTM to earn the regular-season sweep last weekend.

EIU ripped three doubles and a triple on the day with freshman Carly Willert going 3-for-4 at the plate to lead all players, which included a two-RBI performance. Also hitting well was fellow classmate Morgan Biel, who finished 2-for-3.

Willert and Biel joined newcomer Reynae Hutchinson and sophomore Melise Brown with two-RBIs.

The Panthers scored five runs in the top of the third before erupting for six runs in the fifth inning to help the Panthers earn the team's seventh five-inning, mercy-rule rout of the season.

Senior Amber May earned the five-inning win in the circle to improve to 18-4 on the year and a nearly perfect OVC mark at 14-1. She averaged one strikeout per inning with five, with just two walks and scattering five hits and two earned runs.

A three-person APSU pitching staff, meanwhile, failed to earn a single strikeout in the game, yet allowed five walks and 11 earned runs off nine Panther hits, in addition to three Peay miscues in the game.

In the third frame, Brown ripped her second triple of the season before eventually scoring off a double from Hutchinson, which also plated Willert. Biel would add her own two-RBI double which brought home both pinch-runner Jen Saucier and Hutchinson. Eventually, a sac fly RBI by Ashleigh Westover would score Biel from third.

APSU would plate a run in both the third and fourth innings off an RBI single and solo homer. But the Panthers would do most of their damage in the fifth as Eastern began with a one-out bases-loaded situation. EIU first scored off an RBI walk and a wild-pitch, then Brown added a two-RBI base hit right field, which was followed by Willert's two-run double to left center for the final Panther score.

Both squads ended up stranding five base runners on the day, while Brown and Willert each picked up a stolen base for the Panthers.

For the weekend series, Willert hit an impressive .667 with eight hits, which included a double and homer which accounted for four RBI and two stolen bases. Brown led with five RBI off her own homer. Overall EIU had four doubles, a triple and four homers on the weekend.

The Panthers will have a busy week of action, hosting I-70 rival Indiana State in a single-game on Wednesday (April 27) at 4 pm. Then EIU will have a road doubleheader at IUPUI on Thursday.

Next weekend the Panthers will host OVC rival Jacksonville State in a key weekend series which will ultimately help determine not only the regular-season champion but also the post-season host of the OVC tournament.

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID