Game 1 Boxscore (PDF) | Game 2 Boxscore (PDF) | Photo Gallery (Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois softball clawed past visiting Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay off consecutive walk-off victories, 4-3 and 3-2, on Saturday afternoon, as the Panthers honored eight standout seniors during the regular-season home finale weekend slate.

With the two dramatic wins, Eastern moves to 36-13 overall and 16-4 in league play.  The Lady Govs, meanwhile, drop to 19-29 and 7-15 overall.

Due to expected inclement weather late tomorrow afternoon, the start time of Sunday's series finale with APSU has been pushed up a couple hours, as the two OVC West Division foes will now face off at 11 a.m.

Highlights of the sweep include senior Stephanie Maday coming one pitch shy of her third no-hitter as she registered a new career-best strikeout tally by fanning 17 Lady Govs in the nightcap victory.

Meanwhile, five different Panthers earned an RBI on the day as senior Reynae Hutchinson and sophomore April Markowski  paced EIU with 3-for-6 plate performances.

Junior Hannah Cole and sophomore Haylee Beck added two hits of their own, as Beck registered the lone stolen base.

The visitors earned an early 3-0 first game lead in the third inning as walk-up triple led to a sac fly RBI, followed by a two-run homer by APSU senior pitcher Lauren de Castro.

Panthers would be held in check the next three innings, despite stranding a pair of runners in the fifth.

But the home squad would earn the late-game comeback in the bottom of the seventh as senior Carly Willert hit an RBI single to center field to plate Hutchinson, who had reached on her own single before advancing to third thanks to a Markowski double.

Sophomore pinch hitter Kylie Bennett then added a sac fly RBI to bring home Markowski to pull to within 3-2 of Peay.

The late game heroics would come off the bat of Jennette Isaac, as the sophomore placed a bunt between the home plate and pitching circle, which allowed Willert to tie the game following the errant fielder's choice throw to home by the APSU pitcher.

The play continued with Beck also scampering all the way from second base to score thrilling walk-off run and comeback victory.

Senior Hanna Mennenga earned the complete game win to improve to 19-4 overall as she retired seven Lady Govs via strikes.

EIU earned the win behind seven hits, compare to three for Peay, as both squads committed an error.

In the nightcap, Maday pitched a complete game gem, as she held a no-hitter through the first six innings, and striking out 17 total Lady Govs.  Only a single up the middle, following a pair of walks, helped the visitors tie the game at two-apiece in the top of the seventh.

Eastern previously enjoyed a 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI fielder's choice by Hutchinson and RBI hit by Markowski in the fourth inning, which scored senior pinch runner Kylie Pruett and Hutchinson, respectively.

With the nightcap going into extra innings, the Panthers would earn the second consecutive walk-off victory off Cole's double to plate senior Brooke Owens, who singled, before being moved to second off the sac bunt by junior Bailey O'Dell.

Maday held the Lady Govs to a low .040 bat average in the win, surrendering just one hit and three walks.

For the day, EIU led APSU in hitting (.273-to-.082), runs (seven-to-five), hits (15-to-four), doubles (six-to-zero), total bases (21-to-nine), and dominated the pitching game with a lead in strikeouts (24-to-two).

With the sweep, Eastern has now won ten straight over APSU in the series history.

After hosting the Lady Govs in the regular-season home finale on Sunday, the Panthers will next hit the road for a crucial final league series at SIU Edwardsville next weekend.  A Saturday doubleheader will be followed by a Sunday single game.  This afternoon, the Cougars of SIUE dropped consecutive road games at Murray State to now trail the Panthers in the OVC West Division standings by half a game.

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