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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Eastern Illinois softball split final Mississippi State Classic play on Sunday, losing an 8-6 slug-fest to Louisiana Tech, but clawing past Samford, 5-4, in an eight-inning thriller.  Panthers improve to 5-6 overall.

Bailey O'Dell continued her fine freshman play, leading the Panther bats with a 4-for-8 day off four hits, with two coming via home runs.  She earned three RBI , ten total bases and a 1.250 slug %, which featured zero walks nor strikeouts.

O'Dell would end up representing the Panther squad with her inclusion to the All-Tournament team at shortstop.

Sophomore Reynae Hutchinson also had a three RBI day thanks to a homerun of her own, while juniors Melise Brown, Ally Seplak and Abby Wood each collected three total hits on Sunday.

Wood joined sophomore Carly Willert with a double as well in the final day of play at the multi-team tourney.

The Panthers earned a third win over Samford (4-11) this season, with the previous wins coming at the Bulldog's own tourney last weekend.  Yet this time around the game came down to the wire.

Trailing the Bulldogs, 4-2, at the top of the seventh, the Panthers were down to their final out as Brown drilled a two-run shot up the middle to tie it up and force an extra-inning game via the international tiebreaker rule.

In the eighth, after being placed on second, Willert scampered to third off a passed ball.  A fielder's choice ball off the bat of Hutchinson would plate Willert to give the Panthers the 5-4 lead.

Off five innings of work, sophomore Stephanie Maday earned the win in the circle as she survived a Samford's bases loaded scenario in their final half of the frame.  Her sixth strikeout of the game would secure the EIU win.  Maday improved to 4-2 on the year in the circle.

Down 3-0 earlier in the game, O'Dell blasted a two-run blast over the centerfield wall to pull EIU to within one run, while a double from Wood and single by Brooke Owens helped set the table for Brown's game-tying heroics in the seventh.

Samford barely out-hit the Panthers, eight-to-five, but also had one more error then Eastern.  Brown and senior Maria Sorrentino both earned stolen bases.

In the earlier tough loss against Louisiana Tech (10-9), the Panthers kept playing catch-up, as they moved to within 2-1 of the Lady Techsters thanks to O'Dell's first homer of the day in the opening frame.

Unfortunately Tech added five runs in the top of the fifth to lead 7-1, while Eastern countered with two more runs in their half of the frame thanks to Hutchinson's two-run home run to center, to trail 7-3.

Panthers would plate three runs in the bottom of the seventh, after a previous Tech score, to suddenly make things interesting down just 8-6.  An RBI single by Biel brought home O'Dell, while Brown scored thanks to a Tech miscue, followed by Seplak's RBI single to left would plate Biel.

Unfortunately Tech would secure the win despite EIU enjoying a bases loaded situation.

Maday was tagged for the loss off just over four innings of work in the circle, yet she did retire four batters via strikes.  Hutchinson also saw limited action pitching-wise.

The game versus Tech featured 24 total hits, with the Techsters enjoying a slight 13-11 advantage.  It also had seven total errors, four for Tech and three for Eastern.

The Panthers will now have a few days to prepare for next weekend's Ohio Valley Conference opener at preseason favorite Jacksonville State.  A 1 p.m. doubleheader is set for Saturday (March 10), followed by a Sunday single game, also with a 1 p.m. first pitch start time.

Last season, EIU won two-of-three over JSU en route to the squad's first-ever regular-season league championship, yet the Gamecocks earned the conference tournament title and NCAA Regional berth.

2011 MSU Classic Tourney Records
1. Mississippi State ... 5-0
2. Louisiana Tech ... 3-2
3. Eastern Illinois ... 1-3
    Columbia ... 1-3
    Samford ... 1-3

2011 MSU Classic All-Tourney Team
P ... Stephanie Becker, Mississippi State
C ... Liz Caggiano, Columbia
1B ... Meghan Knowles, Louisiana Tech
2B ... Robyn Harmon, Samford
3B ... Sam Lenahan, Mississippi State
SS ... Bailey O'Dell, Eastern Illinois
MVP/LF ... Jessica Cooley, Mississippi State
CF ... Jessica Offutt, Mississippi State
RF ... Katelynn Hill, Louisiana Tech
DP... Brittany Bell, Mississippi State

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