Tweet #WinTheMoment

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Eastern Illinois received solid pitching and timely hitting on Thursday as the Panthers swept a doubleheader over Alabama State to open the ASU Black & Gold Tournament.  EIU won the opener 10-0 in five innings before taking the second game 7-2.

GAME ONE  (EIU 10, ASU 0 ... 5 Innings))
McKenzie Oslanzi tossed a two-hit shutout and Kendall Grover helped provide the offensive punch as Eastern Illinois won game one of a doubleheader with Alabama State, 10-0 on Thursday afternoon.

Oslanzi allowed hits in the first and fourth inning with Zoee Disroe advancing to third a pair of wild pitches with two outs as a pinch runner following a single by Brooke Ramsey in the third as the only Hornets threat to score.

EIU scored single runs in the first and second innings before the big offensive output in the fourth.  Rachel Kaufman had a sacrifice fly to drive in Grover in the first.  In the second Marama Makea scored on a wild pitch after leading off the inning with a walk and moving to second on a stolen base.

In the fourth Kendall Grover hit the third grand slam of the season for the Panthers as she connected for the big blast as part of a six-run inning for the Panthers.  Grover drove in Karson Davey, Avary Makarewicz and Aryn Henke.  Davey and Henke both reached on walks while Makarewicz had a single through the left side.

Briana Gonzalez drove home the final two runs of the fourth with a two-run single.  The final two runs came in the top of the fifth.  Kaufman drove home Grover with a single and later scored on an error. 

Oslanzi improved to 7-0 in the circle.

Alabama State fell to 8-8.  Ashley Pye took the loss falling to 2-3.
 
GAME TWO (EIU 7, ASU 2)
In the second game of the day Eastern Illinois again had a big inning as the Panthers swept the doubleheader to improve to 11-6 on the season with a 7-2 victory.

EIU scored four runs in the first inning.  Kendall Grover and Rachel Kaufman opened with back-to-back doubles with an RBI by Kaufman.  Later in the inning Karson Davey drove home two more runs to stake the Panthers to the early lead.

Grover pushed the Panthers lead out to 5-0 in the second as she was one of three Panthers with two hits in the game. 

Sophie Cerveny tacked on two more runs with a two-run single in the fourth.  She and MaryBeth Dyson joined Grover with two hits for EIU.

Alabama State finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth scoring on an RBI ground out by Elizabeth Williams. 

Charity Bibbs (3-5) took the loss for Alabama State as the Hornets fell to 8-9 overall.

Kindall DeRamus drove in the second Hornets run of the game in the bottom of sixth scoring Williams with an unearned run against EIU starter Olivia Price who improved to 3-5 on the season.