Eastern Illinois (14-8, 2-1 OVC) Softball Upcoming Schedule
March 16-17 vs. UT Martin (14-9, 2-1 OVC)
Saturday, March 16 at 1 pm …
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Saturday, March 16 at 3:30 pm …
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Sunday, March 17 at 1 pm …
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ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois and UT Martin face each other in the second series of the Ohio Valley Conference campaign as they are two of five teams currently tied for the OVC lead with a 2-1 record. The Panthers won two out of three from defending OVC Champion Southeast Missouri to improve to 14-8 overall, 2-1 in the OVC. UT Martin won two of three from OVC newcomer Western Illinois to enter at 14-9 overall, 2-1 in the OVC.
QUICK HITTER NOTES:
Eastern Illinois played a marathon game in its OVC opener with Southeast Missouri as the two teams battled for 12 innings before EIU collected a 7-4 win. EIU freshman
McKenzie Oslanzi went the distance with a complete game win before returning on Sunday to pitched 5.1 innings in the series ending win. Oslanzi leads the OVC in wins at 9-1 with a 0.77 ERA. She has 77 strikeouts this season while issuing just nine walks in 73 innings in the circle. She is 16th in the NCAA in strikeout to walk ratio while entering the week in the NCAA Top 20 in wins, strikeouts and shutouts.
Eastern Illinois 12 inning OVC opener against Southeast Missouri was the Panthers longest game in eight years since a 12-inning contest against Eastern Kentucky in 2016. Since joining the NCAA Division I ranks EIU has played 13 games lasting 12 or more innings. EIU's longest game in program history at the NCAA Division I level was a 20-inning contest against Evansville during the 1984 season. The game was the second half of a doubleheader and ended in a 0-0 tie due to darkness.
Jadin Justman had a solid weekend at the plate as the transfer from Green Bay had hits in all three games extending her current hitting streak to five games. Justman hit .462 for the weekend with one home run, one RBI and three runs scored. She extended her consecutive game streak of reaching base to 15 straight games. Justman is currently leading the Panthers in hitting with a .393 average which ranks fifth in the OVC among players with the minimum number of at-bats this season. She has five doubles, two home runs and nine RBI. Justman is sixth in the OVC with an OPS (on-base + slugging pct) of 1.065.
Karson Davey started all three games at Southeast Missouri as the freshman hit .500 for the weekend with three runs scored. For the season Davey is just below the .300 mark hitting .297 with 13 starts on the season and 19 total game appearances. She has added six runs, with one double and two RBI. On the base paths, Davey is 5-of-6 for the season.
Rachel Kaufman once again provided double duty for the Panthers during the weekend as the graduate student made two relief appearances. On Sunday she came in during the bottom of the sixth and retired five straight batters to pick up the save. She had pitched in relief on Saturday allowing two unearned runs on three hits. Kaufman had a 0.00 ERA for the weekend and is at 4.42 for the season with a 1-1 record with one save. At the plate she had one double and drove in two runs starting all three games at first base in the series at SEMO. For the year Kaufman is second on the team with a .325 batting average.
STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games: Kendall Grover (9),
Rachel Kaufman (7),
Jadin Justman (6),
Marama Makea (5),
Multiple RBI Games: Rachel Kaufman (6),
Briana Gonzalez (4),
Jadin Justman (3),
Kendall Grover (3)
Active Hitting Streaks: Jadin Justman (5),
Karson Davey (3)
Active Reached Base Streak: Jadin Justman (15),
McKenzie Oslanzi (5)
SEASON LONG NOTES
Graduate student
Rachel Kaufman was named the preseason Player to Watch for EIU in the Ohio Valley Conference this season as part of the league's preseason information release. Kaufman was a second team All-OVC selection at Utility last season playing both the DH role while also starting in the circle. At the plate she hit .323 with seven home runs and 26 RBI. In the circle she had some of the best control ranking among the NCAA leaders in fewest number of walks issued allowing just 15 free passes in 106.2 innings in the circle. Kaufman was 9-6 overall with a 2.17 ERA and 59 strikeouts.
Eastern Illinois was selected second in the OVC preseason poll. The Panthers finished behind defending regular season league champion Southeast Missouri in the preseason voting. The Panthers were the OVC Tournament Champion last season winning three straight games in Oxford, Alabama to punch their first ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Olivia Price was named the OVC Tournament MVP after three straight complete games in the OVC Tournament allowing just one run in 21 innings of work.
Rachel Kaufman was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week after the graduate student had hits in all five games to help power the Panthers to a 5-0 start to the season. Kaufman hit .500 (9-of-18) at the plate with two doubles and a home run. She had multiple hits in three of the five games and extended her current hitting streak to six games dating back to last season. She drove in five of EIU's 25 runs for the weekend drawing one walk to finish with a .526 on-base percentage. Kaufman did not strike out in 19 plate appearances.
Freshman pitcher
McKenzie Oslanzi was named the Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week in week one after helping the Panthers secure a 5-0 start to the season. She appeared in three of the five games for the weekend factoring in the decision in each game she appeared. She made her first collegiate start picking up a win over Green Bay with ten strikeouts in her debut. She would pick up a win in relief against Montana and then a save in relief in the victory over Providence. For the weekend Oslanzi had an ERA of 1.14 with 16 strikeouts in 12.1 innings of work.
Freshman pitcher
McKenzie Oslanzi won her second straight OVC Pitcher of the Week honor as she pitched well at the San Diego Classic. Oslanzi had a complete game shutout win over Long Island University. She followed that up with a no-decision in the start against San Diego and pitched in relief against Southern Utah. For the weekend she had 22 strikeouts in 16.1 innings of work. She leads the OVC in innings pitched, wins and strikeouts while ranking third in the league in ERA.
Freshman pitcher
McKenzie Oslanzi added a third straight Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week honor in week three as she posted a 3-0 record at the WKU Hilltopper Classic. She pitched 15 innings with 15 strike outs allowing just one run and issuing just one walk. For the weekend she had an ERA of 0.47.
Kendall Grover powered the EIU offense at the Alabama State Black & Gold Tournament earning OVC Player of the Week honors. Grover had multiple hits in all four games giving her eight multi-hit games this season. Grover hit .563 for the weekend going 9-of-16 at the plate with six of her nine hits for extra bases. Grover had four doubles and two home runs while driving home nine. She also set the table for the Panthers offense in the lead-off spot scoring seven runs and going 3-of-3 on stolen bases.
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and UT Martin will be meeting for the 83rd time when they meet in the opening game of a weekend OVC series on Saturday in Charleston. EIU holds a 47-35 all-time series lead having won all four meetings last year. EIU swept a regular season series three games to none in Martin, Tenn., and then won a 1-0 game in the OVC semifinals in Oxford, Alabama.
ON DECK: Eastern Illinois will travel to the state of Indiana for a couple of midweek contests during its spring break before returning home next weekend to host Western Illinois. EIU plays a doubleheader at IUPUI on Tuesday and a single game at Purdue on Wednesday.
HEAD COACH: Tara Archibald is her fifth season as the head coach at Eastern Illinois. Last season she led EIU to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance as the Panthers posted a 34-21 record winning the OVC Tournament. Archibald has a career record of 109-88 with an OVC record of 44-38. She won her 100th career game against Providence on Feb. 11, 2024. 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 Lasaira Daniels,
Toby Ring and
Macey McElravy.
