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CANTON, Ga. – Eastern Illinois softball earned a two-game split on Saturday (March 7), falling to Cleveland State, 3-0, but earning a walk-off, 6-5, victory over Northern Kentucky, as both contests were played down in Canton, Georgia.

The split moves the Panthers to 5-9 on the early-season as EIU will now play two Sunday games in the Kennesaw State Owl Invitational tomorrow against Indiana and the host Owls at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, in nearby Kennesaw.

Down 5-2 heading to the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers scored four straight runs to win in dramatic walk-off fashion, as Eastern connected on three doubles and a pair of singles for the victory.

Senior shortstop Bailey O'Dell hit a two-out, two-RBI single to left center which plated juniors Haylee Beck and Katie Watson to knot the score at five-all, while classmate Hannah Cole then drilled the game-winning RBI double to bring home newcomer Andrea Roberts for the victory.

NIU actually enjoyed an early 4-0 lead before O'Dell got the Panthers on the scoreboard with her third homer of the season, also scoring junior Kylie Bennett.  O'Dell secured a four-RBI game off three hits.

Freshman Jessica Wireman earned the win as she came in relief in the sixth inning, striking out a trio of Norse batters and allowing just one earned run.  The victory improved her season mark to 2-5 overall.

Team-wise, both squads registered eight hits as EIU stranded five base runners while NKU had four.

In the morning contest versus the Cleveland State, the Vikings ended the pitching duo with two scores via the long ball in the bottom of the fifth, before adding a security run in the sixth off an RBI single.

CSU just barely out-hit EIU, eight-to-six, in the win, as Wireman was tabbed for the loss for the Panthers yet ended up fanning five Viking batters, while the Viking's starter tallied eight strikeouts of her own.

Freshman catcher Andrea Roberts led all Panthers in the tough loss with a 3-for-3 plate performance and added a stolen base.  

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