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Eastern Illinois Softball Upcoming Schedule
April 23 – vs. Austin Peay at 1 pm … Live Stats  |  Watch on ESPN+
April 23 – vs. Austin Peay at 3:30 pm … Live Stats  |  Watch on ESPN+
April 24 – vs. Austin Peay  at 1 pm … Live Stats | Watch on ESPN+
 
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois looks to snap a six game losing skid as the Panthers return home to host Austin Peay at Williams Field.  EIU lost both of its last two weekend series at Southeast Missouri and UT Martin as the Panthers dropped to 21-23 overall, 6-11 in the OVC.   EIU returns home where the Panthers are 7-1 this season with OVC series wins over Morehead State and Murray State.  Austin Peay enters the weekend at 21-20 overall, 8-7 in the OVC.

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
Eastern Illinois leading hitter, Hannah Cravens, was EIU's leading hitter in the weekend series at UT Martin.  Cravens hit .375 with one double and one RBI.  Cravens leads the OVC in both home runs (13) and RBI (42).  She is second in the league in doubles with 16.  This season Cravens has moved into the EIU career top ten in doubles (5th / 41), home runs (4th / 24) and RBI (7th / 106).
 
Kaitlyn Reifsteck was solid in relief for the Panthers during their weekend series at UT Martin.  The freshman made two relief appearances in the circle posting a weekend ERA of 1.11 as she pitched 6.1 innings allowing just one earned run with one strikeout.  On the season Reifsteck has the best ERA on the EIU pitching staff at 2.15 with 15 appearances.  She has pitched 29.1 innings this season with 14 strikeouts.  She has not had a decision in the circle.
 
Macey McElravy had a home run during the weekend as the Panthers had four players connect for homers during the series at UT Martin.  It was her first career home run at EIU.  McElravy joined Rachel Kaufman, Lindy Milkowski and Megan Burton with home runs during the weekend.  Burton is currently second on the team this season with eight home runs while Milkowski is third with seven.
 
Carson Cole collected her first career hit during the weekend series at UT Martin.  Cole has appeared in 18 games this season and used primarily as a pinch-runner.  The hit came in Cole's first official plate appearance this season.  She has scored four runs as a pinch-runner this year.
 
Ball State transfer Kendall Fields started all three games over the weekend for EIU hitting .333 at the plate.  Fields has continued to increase her batting average in the latter portion of the season adding three doubles, four home runs and 18 RBI to her season totals this year. 

 
STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games:  Hannah Cravens (13), Megan Burton (13), Jaylen Prichard (12)
Multiple RBI Games: Hannah Cravens (12), Riley Dittmar (9), Megan Burton (8), Lindy Milkowski (7)
Active Hitting Streaks:  Amber Cieplinski (2), Rachel Kaufman (2)
Active Reached Base Streak: Amber Cieplinski (4), Rachel Kaufman (2)

 
SEASON HIGHLIGHT NOTES:
Megan Burton was named one of 30 candidates for this year's Senior CLASS Award.  Burton was last year's OVC Player of the Year after setting the school single season record for home runs.  This season Burton has moved into second on the EIU career home runs list with 33.  She is currently third all-time at EIU with 42 doubles and fourth all-time with 72 stolen bases.  Burton has also climbed up the EIU career hits and runs scored lists this season.  She is now 6th with 206 career hits and second with 145 runs scored.

In the season opening weekend at the Rosemont Dome catcher Lindy Milkowski hit three home runs finishing the opening weekend with 11 RBI in the four games.  In the win over Valparaiso she hit two grand slams in the win tying an NCAA record.  Milkowski is currently second on the Panthers roster with 31 RBI as she is one of four EIU players with 25 or more RBI this season. 
 
Starting pitcher Tieghan Morio, a transfer from Ball State, tossed just the seventh no-hitter in program history during a 4-0 win over Alabama A&M at the River City Classic II Tournament.  Morio is 4-4 on the season with eight starts in the circle.  The last EIU pitcher to toss a no-hitter was Jessica Wireman on April 11, 2015 during a 3-0 win over UT Martin.  Pitchers Coli Turley and Stephanie Maday have both pitched a pair of no-hitters in EIU softball history while Hanna Mennega has the other.
 
Rachel Kaufman was the latest EIU player to join the Grand Slam club this season as she hit a walk-off grand slam to finish off the Panthers 15-5 win over Morehead State.  Kaufman drove in five runs the game.  She became the third different EIU player to hit a grand slam this season joining Lindy Milkowski (2) and Megan Burton. 
 
Eastern Illinois offense continues to produce this season.  EIU leads the OVC in home runs this season and ranks second in the league in doubles.  The Panthers 42 home runs this season are the third most in school history after setting the school record last year with 56.  EIU has now scored 236 runs this season which is the fifth most in school history.  The school record is 262 during the 2018 season.  EIU has 62 doubles on the year which is the ninth most in single season school history.  EIU has scored ten or more runs in seven games this year

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay will be meeting for the 72nd time when they meet on Saturday afternoon.  EIU holds a 53-18 all-time lead in the series including winning two of three last year against the Governors.

NEXT UP:  The Panthers continue play at home as EIU closes the season with three of its last four series at Williams Field.  After this weekend's three-game series with Austin Peay, the Panthers will host a midweek Wednesday doubleheader against SIUE.   The final two weekends of the year include a road series at Belmont and home series with Tennessee Tech.

HEAD COACH: Tara Archibald is her third season as the head coach at Eastern Illinois.   In her first season Archibald led EIU to an 11-10 record to open the season prior to COVID-10 shortening the season for all college teams.   The Panthers did not get into Ohio Valley Conference play during the 2020 season.   Last season she posted her second straight winning record as EIU finished at 25-19 overall, 16-14 in the OVC.  Archibald has a career record of 36-29 entering the 2022 season.  Archibald is a 2004 graduate of Southern Illinois where she played softball for the Salukis helping the team make the 2003 NCAA Tournament.  She hails from a softball family with her father, Gerry Glasco, the head coach at Louisiana.  She has coaching stops at both the high school and collegiate ranks.   She is assisted by Rachel Houck and Aeshia Miles.