Eastern Illinois softball reached the 30 win mark for the season as the Panthers swept a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday at Valparaiso.
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EIU won game one 5-1 with a 9-2 game two victory as the Panthers improved to 30-12 on the season.  Valpo fell to 8-29 overall
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EIU 5, VALPO 1
Karlie McKenzie tossed five solid innings allowing just one unearned run as the Panthers continued to have their strong pitching trend carry over from the weekend in the 5-1 win.
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McKenzie (2-0) had seven strikeouts allowing just one unearned run in the fourth which made it a 3-1 game at the time.Â
Olivia Price pitched the final two innings to close out the victory.
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The Panthers scored two in the first on a
Jadin Justman ground out RBI single and solo home run by
Rachel Kaufman.
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Kaufman came around to score in the top of the fourth as she scored from third on a double steal attempt that had the additional runner thrown out at second.Â
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Kaufman was 2-for-2 in the game joining
Karson Davey as the only Panthers with multiple hits in the game.
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Pinch runner Lauren Sena scored the Beacons lone run of the game in the fourth scoring on a fielding error.
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EIU tacked on two more runs in the fifth with both unearned.Â
Kendall Grover drove in one of the two runs with a sacrifice fly.
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Three Valpo players finished with two hits while Sydney McDermott (4-15) took the loss in the circle.
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EIU 9, VALPO 2
EIU exploded for seven runs over the second and third innings to provide
Rachel Kaufman (3-2) all the offense she would need for the complete game 9-2 win.
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Valparaiso jumped out to a 1-0 lead scoring an unearned run in the first.  The Beacons only other run of the game came on a Lauren Sena solo home run in the fourth as Kaufman scattered just four hits in the game.
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EIU scored three runs in the second starting with a
Briana Gonzalez RBI ground out and ending with an RBI double by
Kendall Grover.Â
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The would be the start of Gonzalez big offensive day at the plate as she delivered a two-run home run in the third and a solo shot in the sixth.
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McKenzie Oslanzi,
Sophie Cerveny and
Jadin Justman all contributed RBI singles to close out the scoring for the Panthers.
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Oslanzi was 3-for-4 at the plate with Grover, Gonzalez and Cerveny all finishing with two hits.
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Anna Wilming (2-5) took the loss for Valpo.