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Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay not only battled each other on the softball diamond on Saturday afternoon but also windy conditions with steady winds of 25 to 30 mph with gusts reaching much more than that at times.
 
In the end, Austin Peay was able to edge Eastern Illinois in both games of the Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader in two tightly contested games.
 
APSU won the opener 3-1 and then the nightcap 4-3 in nine innings.
 
APSU improved to 23-20 overall, 10-9 in the OVC.  EIU fell to 21-25 overall, 6-13 in the OVC.
 
The two schools will wrap up the weekend series at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Williams Field.
 
APSU 3, EIU 1
Austin Peay scored two runs in the top of the first and had those runs stand up during a 3-1 win over Eastern Illinois.
 
Lexi Osowski had an RBI double to left to drive home the Governors first run and then scored on a hard hit ball down the right field line by Brooke Pfefferle.
 
EIU freshman Kaitlyn Reifsteck made the start in the circle for EIU, the first of her career. She would toss a complete game in the loss allowing one additional APSU in the seventh as she fell to 0-1.
 
The Panthers cut the lead in half in the second as Morgan Lewis singled home a run.  Lewis was 2-for-4, one of two EIU players with multiple hits in the game.  Lindy Milkowski went 2-for-3.
 
APSU added an insurance run in the seventh as Harley Mullins picked up the win to move to 7-5.  Jordan Benefiel closed the seventh for her first save.  Pfefferle was 2-for-4 for the Governors.
 
APSU 4, EIU 3 (9)
Morgan Zuege had a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to score the winning run as Austin Peay came back from an early 3-0 deficit to pick up the 4-3 win in extra innings.
 
EIU had jumped on top in the first with Morgan Lewis reaching on a single and eventually coming around to score on an infield ground out.  Lewis was 3-for-5 in the game as the only EIU player with multiple hits.
 
The Panthers extended the lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth when Megan Burton hammered a two-run double down the left field line to score Lewis and Hannah Cravens.
 
In the sixth APSU tied the game as Lexi Osowski connected on a three-run home to left field. 
 
In the ninth the Governors loaded the bases against EIU starter Alexa Rehmeier.  Zuege hit a shallow fly ball to left field that was caught and the throw to the plate hit the runner Kendyl Weinzappel as she was running home allowing her to safely score.
 
Weinzappel was 2-for-3 for the game, one of two APSU players with two hits.  Bailey Shorter was 2-for-5.
 
Rehmeier pitched a complete game in the loss falling to 10-8.
 
Harley Mullins came in and pitched the final three innings for APSU picking up her second win of the day to improve to 8-5.