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Eastern Illinois University Athletics

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14utm_cole-RBI.jpg
9
Southeast Missouri SEMO 19-27
10
Winner Eastern Illinois EIU 21-26
Southeast Missouri SEMO
19-27
9
Final
10
Eastern Illinois EIU
21-26
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
Southeast Missouri SEMO 1 0 6 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 15 3
Eastern Illinois EIU 1 0 0 0 2 4 2 0 0 0 0 1 10 14 2

W: Rogers, Michelle (9-12) L: KRUMREY, Madeline (13-12)

Game Recap: Softball |

Cole's Walk-Off Homer Extends EIU Season

#6-Panthers win thrilling, 10-9, 12-inn. OVC loser's bracket comeback over #7-SEMO

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Eastern Illinois softball earned a thrilling walk-off, 10-9 (12-inning), victory over #7-Southeast Missouri to begin Thursday (May 7) Ohio Valley Conference Championship second day action, as senior Hannah Cole crushed a solo home run to keep the #6-Panther 2015 season alive.

With the victory, the Panthers (21-26) advance to play regular-season champion, and tourney host, SIUE, who lost to #4-Tennessee Tech, 4-1, to drop to the loser's bracket.  The first pitch of that elimination game between EIU and the Cougars has been pushed up to a 9 a.m. start tomorrow morning at Cougar Field in Edwardsville, due to potential scattered thunderstorms in the weather forecast.

The twelve-inning marathon marks the longest contest in OVC Championship history.

For the game, Second Team All-OVC catcher Hannah Cole finished with a 3-for-6 plate performance, as she led all Panthers with five RBI, also nailing a two-run homer in the sixth and tying the game at 9-all with a crucial two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.

Freshman Taylor Miokovic followed with a 3-for-5 day, as First Team All-OVC senior Bailey O'Dell and sophomore Hannah Rachor each earned a pair of hits.  First Team All-OVC outfielder April Markowski also connected on two hits, including the second triple of her junior campaign.

Freshman thrower Michelle Rogers improved to 9-12 on the season as she earned the win, coming into the game in relief in the third frame.  She finished with two strikeouts, allowed four walks, and gave up just two earned Redhawk runs with just over nine innings of work.

As the visiting squad on the scoreboard, the Redhawks of SEMO took an early 1-0 lead in their half of the opening frame, but the Panthers countered with their own one-out run in the same inning, as junior Jennette Isaac reached on a SEMO error, before O'Dell brought her home via a double into the right center field gap.

After a scoreless second inning, SEMO erupted for three early runs in the top of the third off a pair of home runs to lead the Panthers, 4-1, necessitating an EIU pitching change, as starter Jessica Wireman, who earned OVC All-Newcomer kudos this week, was replaced by classmate Michelle Rogers.

Unfortunately the visitors would plate three additional runs to extend their lead over EIU to 7-1 thru two and a half innings of play.

After a scoreless frame, the Panthers cut into the SEMO lead in the bottom of the fifth as Miokovic got on with a hit, before scampering home following Rachor's double through the left centerfield gap.  Markowski soon followed with her huge RBI triple to right center, plating Rachor.  But SEMO got out of the jam with a strikeout but not before Eastern pulled to within 7-3 of the Redhawks.

SEMO would tally a couple additional key scores in their half of the sixth, but the Panthers would go on their own run in the bottom of the same frame, eventually pulling to within 9-7 of the Redhawks with four runs.  Cole got things going as she launched the first of her two homers game, as she drilled a two-RBI bomb over the left centerfield fence to also score O'Dell, who earned a walk.  Rachor then nailed an RBI double to bring home freshman pinch-runner Tori Johnson, but not before EIU added an additional run via an illegal pitch called by the officials on the SEMO pitcher, plating Miokovic.

Eastern earned the comeback as they added two-runs in the bottom of the seventh, as Cole roped a two-run shot to plate Isaac and Cole to knot the game at 9-9, with zero outs.  Unfortunately the Panthers would fail to bring Cole home for the winning run, as she was caught stealing and thus extending the game to extra innings.

Neither squad could plate a run in either the eighth or ninth frames, though SEMO did strand three total base runners.

In bottom of the tenth, Cole had a certified game-winning home run ruined as the SEMO center fielder snagged her shot at the top of the fence for the first out.

Miokovic eventually added to her hit tally with a two-out single thru the right side, but the game would move to the next inning still tied at 9-all.

Eastern had another prime chance to win in the bottom of the 11th, as the Panthers had runners at the corners with two outs, but a line-out would end the Panther threat as the marathon game moved to the 12th inning still tied at 9-all.

A key final throw-out of a SEMO base runner at home helped EIU end another potential SEMO threat in the top of the 12th, as Isaac gunned down the player at home as Cole tagged the player out easily.

Cole then returned to the plate to earn her game-winning heroics, blasting a walk-off solo shot over the left field fence to help EIU earn the thrilling 10-9 comeback win and avenge the regular-season series loss to the Redhawks, while also ending their arch-rival's season at 19-27 overall.
 
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID

 

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