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Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)
EVANSTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois softball placed runners on base in six of the seven innings on Saturday afternoon but could not deliver the timely hit as the Panthers season came to an end with a 4-0 loss to Miami (Ohio) in the NCAA Softball Regional hosted Northwestern.
EIU lost in its first-ever NCAA Tournament game 2-0 on Friday against the No. 15 ranked host Wildcats as EIU wraps up its season with a 34-21 record.
EIU put runners at second and third in the opening inning as
Rachel Kaufman reached on an error and moved to third on a double by
Lindy Milkowski. Miami pitcher Brianna Pratt (31-10) was able to pitch out of the jam and threw a complete game shutout allowing eight EIU hits.
Jaylen Prichard and
Kendall Grover each had two hits at the top of the line-up for EIU including back-to-back one out singles in the seventh with EIU trailing 4-0. Kaufman singled up the middle to load the bases before Pratt had a double play back her up to end the game.
Olivia Price (16-6) took the loss for EIU working into the fifth. Price allowed one run in the first and three more in the fifth. Kaufman pitched 1.2 innings in relief with three strike outs.
Miami scored in the first on a solo home run by Holly Blaska for the lone home run the RedHawks had in the game. Miami entered the regional ranked among the nation's leaders in both home runs and doubles.
The RedHawks three runs in the fifth came on a triple by Maddi Banks, RBI single by Allie Cummins and sacrifice fly by Karli Spaid. Banks and Blaska were the only two Miami players with multiple hits.
