Game 1 Boxscore (PDF) | Game 2 Boxscore (PDF)

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois softball earned an Ohio Valley Conference sweep of west division foe Austin Peay on Saturday (March 16), as the Panthers hit past the Lady Govs, 6-2 and 7-1, to open the league campaign.

The Panthers won their fifth consecutive game to improve to 12-8 overall on the season and have already earned the weekend series over APSU (9-9/0-2), with a single-game series finale set for Sunday.

Eastern used a pair of complete games both in the circle and at the plate to lead APSU in nearly every statistical category.

Prior to the game, the Lady Govs sported one of the top team batting averages in the league, yet the Panther pitching duo of Hanna Mennenga and Stephanie Maday held APSU to a low .125 mark off just six total hits, as compared to 12 for Eastern behind a .235 average.

The two junior pitchers combined for 23 strikeouts as Mennenga's 16 first game strikeout tally set a new career high.

Sophomores Hannah Cole and Bailey O'Dell paced the Eastern hitters, as each registered a .400 bat mark behind a 2-for-5 day at the plate.  O'Dell led all players with four RBIs off a pair of home runs, as she earned eight total bases and registered an impressive 1.600 slug %.

Four different Panthers -- Cole, juniors Brooke Owens and Ashleigh Westover, and senior Melise Brown -- all nailed a double over the course of the twinbill, while juniors Morgan Biel and Carly Willert registered stolen bases.

Eastern jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first and second innings of game one, as the Panthers took advantage of a few illegal pitches by the starting APSU pitcher.

EIU would add three additional runs in the third frame, with two coming via a Lady Gov fielding miscue, while another APSu illegal pitch would plate another Panther.

A solo homer by O'Dell in the top of the fifth would finish up the EIU scoring, while the Govs would also use the long ball off a two-run homer to eliminate the Panther shutout in the seventh.

Mennenga pitched a gem of a game as she fanned an all-time high 16 of the 25 batters faced.  She also allowed just one walk and one earned run to improve to 7-3 on the season.

In the nightcap, Eastern would once again erupt for a 6-0 advantage through four innings, as Owen's RBI double in the first, O'Dell's third inning three-run bomb and Willert's two-RBI base hit in the fifth accounted for the Panther scoring run.

Once again, the host Lady Govs would avoid the shutout with a ground-out RBI in their half of the fourth, but the Panthers would add a security run off Westover's RBI double down the left field line in the fifth inning.

Maday would pick up the complete game win to improve her season mark to 5-3 in the circle behind seven Ks, three walks, and just one earned run.

With the Saturday sweep, the Panthers have now won seven straight over APSU to improve EIU's series lead over the Lady Govs to 41-12 all-time.

Final Sunday action between the two west division rivals is set for a noon start at Cheryl Holt Field.

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