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Eastern Illinois (0-5) Softball Upcoming Schedule
Feb. 16 at #18 LSU (5-0) – 6 pm … Live Stats  |  Watch on SEC Network +

February 17-19 at Mardi Gras Classic (Baton Rouge, La.)
Feb. 17 vs. Alabama State (0-1) at 2 pm …  
Feb. 17 at Southern Univ. (0-4) at 4 pm …
Feb. 18 vs. Jackson State (2-2) at 2 pm …
Feb. 18 vs. Grambling State (1-3) at 4 pm …
Feb. 19 vs. Grambling State at 10 am …
  
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois looks to bounce back after a tough opening weekend last week in San Antonio at the Incarnate Word Tournament.  EIU lost all five contests including a pair of one-run games on Saturday.  The Panthers travel to Louisiana this weekend for the Mardi Gras Classic in Baton Rouge.   Prior to that they will play under the lights at No. 18 LSU on Thursday night.  EIU will then play five games in the tournament hosted by Southern University. 

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
EIU will face a nationally ranked team in the early season schedule for the sixth straight season.  The last two years EIU has faced Louisiana which is coached by Gerry Glasco, the father of EIU head coach Tara Archibald.  Last season EIU pushed the No.15 ranked Rajin' Cajuns to extra innings before losing 3-2 in nine innings.  EIU also faced nationally ranked Louisiana in 2021 and 2018.  The Panthers had games at nationally ranked SEC members Georgia in 2020 and Auburn in 2019.
 
Senior outfielder Morgan Lewis was named the EIU Player to Watch in this year's Ohio Valley Conference preseason media release.  Lewis was named to the All-OVC Newcomer team in 2021 after leading the conference in stolen bases with 23 despite missing the final seven games of the season.  Injuries impacted Lewis again last season as she missed a chunk of the season in the heart of the OVC schedule.  She would return in the final week and play in the OVC Tournament.  Lewis hit .366 for the season with just eight strikeouts in 112 total plate appearances.  Lewis hit .188 for the opening weekend with one double.  She was 0-for-1 in  stole base attempts.
 
Lindy Milkowski was a first team All-OVC selection last season at catcher starting all 55 games for the Panthers.  Milkowski led the Panthers in RBI and was second on the team in both doubles and home runs.  She hit .297 for the year with 46 RBI, 15 doubles, nine home runs and a slugging percentage of .564.  Milkowski played in all five games during the opening weekend but was just 2-for-13 (.154) with no extra base hits. 
 
Alexa Rehmeier was named to the All-OVC Newcomer Team last season as a freshman pitcher.  She led the Panthers staff in innings pitched, wins and strikeouts.   Rehmeier would finish the season with a 12-10 record with a 3.45 ERA and 102 strikeouts.  She had two shutouts during the season and posted a season high 12 strikeouts against IUPUI.  Rehmeier made two appearances during the opening weekend with an 0-1 record and 6.00 ERA. She had three strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work.
 
Eastern Illinois offense peppered the school record book last season as the Panthers set four school records during the season while landing in the top five for season numbers in several other categories.  EIU scored and drove in the most runs in program history as the Panthers had 296 runs scored with 275 RBI.  Those numbers shattered the previous school marks of (262 runs / 233 RBI).  EIU would also set the school record for doubles with 82 and walks drawn with 204.  After setting the team record for home runs in a season in 2021, the 2022 edition of the Panthers hit the second most home runs in school history with 48.   This was all done with the Panthers collecting the fourth highest number of hits in a season (420) and the fifth best team batting average in school history (.285).
 
Eastern Illinois returns an experienced group of players this season with four position players that started 45 or more games last season.  Jaylen Prichard has the highest returning batting average in that group at .320 adding nine doubles and 23 RBI making 54 starts.  Lindy Milkowski (55 starts), Maddie Swart (52 starts) and Riley Dittmar (45 starts) join that group.
 
Rachel Kaufman provided a two-way player for the Panthers last season as she appeared in 46 total games splitting time between a field position, designated player or in the circle.  Kaufman hit .264 for the season with five home runs.  In the circle she made 25 appearances with 13 starts going 4-9 with two saves.  During the opening weekend Kaufman saw time as both a pitcher and in the offensive line-up.  In the circle Kaufman made three relief appearances pitching 4.2 innings allowing one earned run to finish with an ERA of 1.50.  At the plate Kaufman was 1-for-6 (.167 average).

Eastern Illinois added four new faces to the Panthers line-up for this upcoming season. Added to the roster for this season were junior college outfielder Aryn Henke along with freshman players Avary Makarewicz (C/UT), Kendall Grover (INF) and Daleny Chumbley (LHP/UT).
 
Briana Gonzalez had the best average for the Panthers during the opening weekend of action hitting .400 during appearances in all five games.  Gonzalez drove in one of the Panthers five runs for the weekend collecting her first college RBI.  Last season Gonzalez hit .225 in 39 games with just 40 at-bats. 
 
Denaed Santini returned to the Panthers line-up after missing last season due to injury.  Santini hit .333 for the weekend going 4-for-12 with two doubles. 
 
EIU had three additional players hit over .300 for the opening weekend.  Amber Cieplinski hit .375 starting four games as she was 3-for-8.  Jaylen Prichard hit .333 for the weekend going 5-for-15 with one double.  Freshman Avary Makarewicz is the early season leader in RBI with two as she was 1-for-3 with a home run. 
 
Sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Reifsteck saw the most time in the circle for the Panthers during the opening weekend.   Reifsteck made three appearances pitching 9.1 innings. She would allow five earned runs while tying Oliva Price as the team leader with five strikeouts.
 
 
STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games: Jaylen Prichard (2), Denaed Santini (2)
Multiple RBI Games: Avary Makarewicz (1)  
Active Hitting Streaks:  Kendall Grover (2), Riley Dittmar (2), Jaylen Prichard (2)
Active Reached Base Streak:  Kendall Grover (2), Riley Dittmar (2), Jaylen Prichard (2)

 
2022 SEASON HIGHLIGHT NOTES:
In the 2022 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 led the Panthers roster with 46 RBI last season closing the year with eight RBI during the Panthers doubleheader sweep of Tennessee Tech on the final weekend of the regular season.  Milkowski was second in the OVC in RBI while ranking fifth in the OVC in both doubles and home runs. 
 
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 during the 2022 season.  Morio was 4-4 on the season with ten 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.
 
Lindy Milkowski hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning in the final weekend of the regular season against Tennessee Tech.  It was her third grand slam of the season.  Milkowski joined Rachel Kaufman and Megan Burton as Panthers that hit grand slams during the 2022 season.  Kaufman had one grand slam as she had five home runs and 20 RBI during the season.  Burton, the 2021 OVC Player of the Year, finished the year with nine home runs and 34 RBI. 
 
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois heads to Louisiana and will face five different opponents during weekend action. EIU opens facing No. 18 LSU. The Tigers hold a 2-0 all-time series lead with the last meeting in 2015.  EIU has previously faced all four teams that will meet in the Mardi Gras Classic.  EIU is 5-1 all-time against Alabama State their Friday afternoon opponent. EIU is 3-0 all-time against tournament host Southern University.  The Panthers are 7-2 all-time against Jackson State and have a 2-0 all-time series lead against Grambling State.  

NEXT UP:  Eastern Illinois continues its early season play on the road as the Panthers will travel to Chattanooga, Tennessee to play in the Frost Classic on Feb. 24-26. 

HEAD COACH: Tara Archibald is her fourth 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.   In 2021 she posted her second straight winning record as EIU finished at 25-19 overall, 16-14 in the OVC.  Last season EIU was 25-30 overall, 10-17.  The Panthers did qualify for the OVC Tournament marking their first appearance since the 2018 season.  Archibald has a career record of 61-64 with an OVC record of 26-31.  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 Huggins and Toby Ring.