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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois softball ended up beating both the rain and one of two undefeated teams in Ohio Valley Conference play as the Panthers knocked Murray State from the ranks of the OVC unbeaten with a 8-0 win on Saturday afternoon at Williams Field.
 
The two teams were originally scheduled to play a Saturday doubleheader but shifted that to a single game earlier this week due to the chance of rain on Saturday.  That rain was scattered on and off all day with Hannah Cravens driving home the run-rule clinching run as the skies opened.
 
Cravens was big all day for the Panthers as she opened with a two-run home run to left field in the bottom of the first scoring Jaylen Prichard.  It was the 11th home run of the season for Cravens who finished the day 2-for-2 at the plate.   The home run came against Racers starter Hannah James who had eight strike outs in 3.2 innings of work before being lifted.  James fell to 11-4 on the season.
 
EIU starter Alexa Rehmeier was solid in the circle allowing just two hits, both to Logan Braundmeier, as she had five strike outs to improve to 8-3 on the season.
 
After scoring two runs in the first on the Cravens home run, EIU added three in the bottom of the fourth.  Lindy Milkowski singled down the left field line to score Cravens for the first run of the inning.  Kendall Fields added a two-run single up the middle to finish off the scoring in the frame.
 
In the fifth Megan Burton drew a walk to open the inning.  A fielding error on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Marama Makea allowed the Panthers to place two on, with no outs.  Jaylen Prichard would drive in the first run of the inning with a single to center.  Makea later scored on a passed ball and Prichard would end the game on an infield single by Cravens.
 
Prichard joined Cravens with multiple hits for EIU in the game going 2-for-3.
 
EIU improved to 18-16 overall, 5-4 in the OVC.  Murray State fell to 23-9 overall, 8-1 in the OVC.