CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois softball will finish up the regular-season home slate this weekend, as the Panthers host fellow Ohio Valley Conference West Division rival Austin Peay in a three-game series. Action gets underway with a Saturday twinbill, followed by a Sunday single game, with first pitches set for 1 p.m. each day at Williams Field.
After upping the squad's season-best win streak to 11-games, the Panthers are coming off consecutive home losses in non-conference to Butler this past Tuesday to sit at 34-13 overall while currently sitting in third place in the league standings at 14-4.
Meanwhile, the Lady Govs of APSU enter at 19-27 overall and 7-13 in OVC action, where they currently rank eighth in the conference standings.
Live stats and audio will be available for all three matchups, with links available above.
AROUND THE HORN WITH EIU
• Six different Panthers are currently hitting over .300 on the season, as junior Hannah Cole leads the pack with her .342 clip, as she paces her squad with 51 hits, 83 total bases, and a .557 slug %. She also owns an 8-for-12 mark in stolen bases and ranks second in total put-outs with 176.
• Sophomore Jennette Isaac and senior Brooke Owens follow with identical .338 bat marks behind 47 hits. Owens has a team-best 11-doubles and ranks second in total bases with 77. Issac, meanwhile just trails senior Reynae Hutchinson in total stolen bases, with Hutchinson owning 11 thefts, while Isaac has ten of her own.
• Hutchinson follows hitting .317 on the year as she leads the home run tally with seven on the season. She recently nailed a pair of three-run bombs over the fence in EIU's first game rout of Belmont on the road last weekend.
• The senior pitching duo of Hanna Mennenga and Stephanie Maday continue to shine in the circle for the Panthers, as they have combined for 15 total shutouts on the season, which includes blanking TSU last weekend off respective 1-0 and 2-0 victories. Mennenga owns an 18-4 overall mark behind a 1.82 ERA and 160 total strikeouts, while Maday sits at 15-6 on the season, with her own 1.92 ERA and 115 K tally. The pair also find themselves listed in nearly ever OVC Top 10 statistical category this season as Eastern owns the second best team ERA at 2.33
• In team numbers, the Panthers continue to hold the advantage over their opponents in hitting percentage, runs, total hits, , doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, total bases, stolen bases, ERA, shutouts, and strikeouts thrown.
• Quick look at game summary stats, the Panthers own a 15-2 shutout mark, going 14-0 when scoring six or more runs themselves, while sporting a 26-2 tally when holding the opponents to two scores-or-less. Throughout the season, EIU has done most of their damage in the fourth frame, holding a 42-to-16 advantage in runs scored during that inning.
PANTHERS UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
Entering her 14th season as a head coach, including nine at a NCAA DI program, Angie Nicholson arrives to Eastern after coaching seven seasons at perennial Horizon League power Cleveland State.
She currently sports a 381-277-1 all-time record (262-195-1 in DI), having previously led her Viking squads to two regular-season league titles and an appearance at the NCAA Regional thanks to a conference tourney championship.
As a two-time Horizon League 'Coach of the Year' honoree herself, Nicholson has mentored three conference Players of the Year and a trio of Pitchers of the Year. In her final season at CSU last spring, she coached both the Horizon League Player and Newcomer of the Year.
Nicholson has previously faced Austin Peay just once during her previous coaching stint at CSU, winning a 2011 matchup by a 7-0 score.
QUOTING COACH NICHOLSON
"We are excited to play another series at home, as I feel like we have not really played at home much this year.
We are hoping to come out firing on all cylinders this weekend. We would really like to see all parts of our game come together. We know we have to finish strong if we have any hopes of hosting the tournament and to put ourselves in a good position for the tourney. I really want to see what this team is made of and if they can find a way to rise to the occasion.
Now is the time to be peaking and putting all that we have learned throughout the season and put it together and begin to play their hearts out and with zero regrets. I am hoping they can do that.
We are looking for some strong leadership from our seniors to guide and direct this team to a place that this program has never experienced before."
SENIOR RECOGNITION SATURDAY
Prior to the first pitch on Saturday, the Panthers will recognize one of the largest senior classes in program history -- Morgan Biel, Reynae Hutchinson, Stephanie Maday, Hanna Mennenga, Brooke Owens, Kaylie Pruett, Ashleigh Westover, and Carly Willert. These eight standouts have now only helped lead Eastern to a pair of regular-season OVC titles, but own a combined 138-65 record and have registered 13 all-league honors.
GAME DAY WEATHER FORECAST
According to weather.com, sunny skies are to be expected for Saturday's twinbill, but rain may be in the mix for the Sunday series finale. Temps may possible reach the mid-70s.
SCOUTING THE LADY GOVS
Austin Peay comes to town with a 19-27 overall and 7-13 league mark, having recently snapped a six-game losing streak by splitting a pair of road OVC games at Eastern Kentucky last weekend. After being shutout, 0-3, the Govs countered with an 8-4 win in the series finale. Unfortunately APSU has only earned a 6-12 mark when playing on the road.
Senior pitcher Lauren de Castro is a force for the Lady Govs, both at the plate as well as in the circle, as she owns a team-best .385 bat, behind 47 hits, 25 RBI and five homers. She's an even 12-12 on the mound with 140-innings under her belt where she has fanned 92 batters, allowed 63 earned runs for a 3.15 ERA.
Fellow senior Kayla Davidson follows with 12 doubles and ties de Castro with 25 RBI numbers. Fifth-year senior Kristin Whitmire and junior Laurel Burroughs have each scampered for four stolen bases, while Burroughs has come around to score a team-best 25 times.
The Panthers currently hold a sizeable advantage in the previous matchups, as EIU enjoys a 42-12 lead in the all-time DI series history. Eastern has actually won the last eight meetings and own a 19-2 mark when playing at home.
PANTHERS OWN TOP RPI IN THE OVC
With the latest national RPI ranking out this week, the EIU Panthers continue to move up in the team ranks. Eastern now sit at No. 62. That is more than 30 spots ahead of fellow OVC rivals Jacksonville State (101), SIU Edwardsville (106), Murray State (112), and Eastern Kentucky (115). EIU also ranks ahead of Big Ten foes Purdue (80), Ohio State (81) and Iowa (88), as well as instate rivals Southern Illinois (119), Bradley (128), and Northern Illinois (169).
UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS
Eastern will finish up the regular-season next weekend, with a crucial three-game road series at SIU Edwardsville on May 3-4.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
