Photo Gallery (Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois softball closed out the nonconference regular-season slate on Wednesday (April 29) with a 4-0 home shutout over instate rival Southern Illinois at Williams Field.
 
Juniors April Markowski and Kylie Bennett each delivered respective two-run homers to lead the Panthers to the win, as Eastern improves to 18-24 overall, while the Salukis drop to 19-24-1 on the year.
 
Meeting for the 43rd time, EIU has now won three consecutive games over SIU in the long-time series history, which includes consecutive shutouts at home.
 
The Panthers return to Ohio Valley Conference action this coming weekend as EIU will entertain current league-leader SIU Edwardsville in a key three-game series on Saturday-Sunday (May 2-3).
 
For the day, Bennett finished with a team-best 2-for-3 plate performance as she also nailed her fifth double of the season.  Sophomore Hannah Rachor also delivered her own double to now sport four on the year.
 
Following two scoreless innings, which saw the visiting squad strand five base runners, the Panthers jumped out to the 2-0 advantage in their half of the third frame, as Markowski's no-out dinger also scored junior Haylee Beck from first base.
 
Then in the bottom of the sixth, after senior Hannah Cole roped a shot to center field, Bennett stepped up for the second Panther bomb of day with one out.
 
Freshman pitcher Michelle Rogers earned the complete game win, and first shutout of her Panther career, as she fanned four Saluki batters and walked five to move to 7-12 overall.
 
The EIU defense also stepped to help strand nine total SIU base runners, as compared to four for Eastern, while holding the traditional Missouri Valley power to just four singles on the day.
 
Junior Jennette Isaac and Cole both scampered for stolen bases for the Panthers.

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