BATON ROUGE, La. – Eastern Illinois softball unloaded offensively for the second straight day as the Panthers swept a Monday series at Southern University ending each game in five innings by run rule. EIU opened with a 9-0 win before closing with a 10-0 win at Lady Jags Stadium.
EIU improved to 4-0 on the season as the Panthers have allowed only one unearned run through the opening four games of the season. Southern fell to 0-7 on the year.
In the opener
Jade Montgomery improved to 2-0 on the season as she worked five scoreless innings with four strikeouts. She would allow just one hit and two total base runners in the contest.
EIU provided all the offense Montgomery would need in the first inning with a four spot against Southern starter Aubrion Alexis James (0-2).
Megan Burton and
Morgan Lewis led off the game with back-to-back singles.
Mia Davis would drive home the first run before
Hannah Cravens cleared the bases with a 3-run home run.
The Panthers added to the run total with an RBI double by Burton in the second and RBI double by Lewis in the fourth. EIU tacked on two runs in the fifth with the final run on a sacrifice fly by Burton. Lewis led EIU in the opener with three hits.
EIU continued to dominate Southern's pitching staff in the second game scoring four runs in the first and four runs in the third to blow open the game. Cravens added to her RBI total for the day with a run scoring double while
Abi Stahlhut drove in two more runs with a single to right center in the first.
Three of the first four Panthers that stepped to the plate in the third connected for solo home runs with
Amber Cieplinski, Cravens and
Aniya Holt all going deep. It was Cravens fourth home run of the season as the Panthers have hit ten in four games. Cravens and Lewis each had two hits in the night cap to lead EIU's offense.
Valerie Thompson was sharp in the circle picking up the win in her first appearance of the season. Thompson pitched four innings allowing one hit with four strikeouts.
Olivia Price closed out the game with a scoreless fifth. Annelise Corona suffered the loss for Southern.
