BATON ROUGE, La. – Eastern Illinois softball improved to 6-1 on the season after picking up a pair of wins on Wednesday. EIU beat Southern University 10-2 in the first game of the day before edging Louisiana Monroe, 5-4, in the second contest.
In the opener EIU broke open a 1-0 game with six runs in the third as
Mia Davis and
Megan Burton both had home runs in the inning. Davis shot was a solo blast with one out in the inning. Burton had a three-run home run as she finished the day 1-for-4 with four RBI.
Hannah Cravens would continue her hot start to the season in the fifth with a solo home run. It was Cravens fifth home run of the season as she went 3-for-4 in the game.
Abi Stahlhut added an RBI in the seventh going 3-for-4.
Morgan Lewis was 3-for-3 with two stolen bases while
Aniya Holt was 3-for-4 including a solo home run to start the Panthers scoring in the third.
Olivia Price tossed a complete game to move to 1-0 on the year. Southern (0-8) would score two runs in the game with one in the fifth and one in the sixth. Kaytlin Donaldson suffered the loss for Southern while Lauren Parks had two hits.
In the second game of the day, EIU held off a late ULM rally to pick up the one run victory.
The Warhawks jumped on the board in the first with doubles by Kennedy Page and Madison Blount. EIU starter
Jade Montgomery would work out of first and allowed just two more earned runs the remainder of the game moving to 3-1 on the season.
Katie Nicholson pinch hit in the top of the third to start a Panthers rally. Lewis reached on an error with both Nicholson and Lewis advancing to second and third on the next at-bat by Burton. That set the table for three consecutive run producing hits by Cravens,
Haley Mitchell and Davis. Cravens and Davis both had run scoring doubles in their turn at the plate.
After ULM cut the lead to one with a solo home run by Korie Kreps in the bottom of the third, EIU tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the fifth. Three of EIU's first four batters in the inning collected hits with the big blow, a two-run single by Davis. Davis was 2-for-3 in the game with three RBI.
In the sixth the Warhawks opened with three hits and a sac bunt to cut the lead to one. Andie Edwards had an RBI single with the other ULM run scoring on an error. Montgomery would close the door on the rally with her fourth strikeout of day with runners at first and second.
Four ULM players finished with two hits each with Kreps going 2-for-3 with the home run. Amber Coons (0-1) was tagged with the loss as ULM fell to 2-2 on the year.
Lewis and Mitchell joined Davis with two hits each in the night cap.
