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Eastern Illinois (2-3) Softball Upcoming Schedule

February 14-16 at Troy Cardinal Classic – Troy, Ala.
Friday, Feb. 14 at 11:30 am vs. Western Kentucky (1-4) … Live Stats
Friday, Feb. 14 at 5:30 pm at Troy (3-2) … Live Stats   
Saturday, Feb. 15 at 11:30 am vs. Western Kentucky … Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2:30 pm vs Alabama State (0-5) … Live Stats
Sunday Feb. 16 at 11:30 am at Troy  … Live Stats


ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois heads to its second in-season tournament this weekend as the Panthers travel to Troy, Alabama to play in the Troy Cardinal Classic.  EIU will face host Troy twice along with two games against Western Kentucky and one against Alabama State.  The Panthers opened the year with a 2-3 record at the Incarnate Word Tournament.  EIU won its season opening game with an extra inning victory over Prairie View A&M on Friday.   EIU closed out the weekend with a second victory over Prairie View.

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
Freshman Kira Manganello had a big game to end the opening weekend of the season as the catcher connected for a pair of home runs on Sunday against Prairie View A&M.  Manganello drive in five of the Panthers seven runs in the game.  For the opening weekend she hit .200 at the plate.  Last season EIU had two players connect for two home runs in a game with Rachel Kaufman hitting two against Detroit Mercy and Kendall Grover hitting two against Valparaiso. 
 
Transfer pitcher Bryanna French picked up a win in her first appearance for the Panthers coming in to pitch in the ninth inning in Friday's season opener over Prairie View A&M.  French faced two batters getting the first out on a sacrifice bunt and then ending the inning with a double play.  French would get the start against UT Arlington but suffered the loss falling to 1-1 for the weekend. 
 
Kendall Grover was held without a hit in the opening game of the weekend tournament but did reach in the ninth on a hit-by-pitch eventually coming around to score the winning run.  The junior entered the season with an active streak of 12 consecutive games of reaching base in a game.  She extended that to 17 straight games over the weekend reaching base in all five games.  Grover had hits in each of the last four games to rank tied for first on the team with a four-game active hit streak.  Grover currently leads the team with a .375 batting average with a double and two RBI.
 
Last season Abbey Crain had her season cut short with a season ending injury in the second tournament of the weekend in San Diego, Calif.  Crain has returned this season starting all five games in left field and currently second on the team with a .353 batting average.  Crain reached base in all five games and has a current four-game active hit streak. 
 
Freshman Abbi Hatton connected for the Panthers first home run of the season on Saturday against Incarnate Word.  Hatton finished the weekend hitting .286 with two RBI while seeing a good amount of playing time at first base.  Hatton joined Kira Manganello as freshmen that both earned starts in the opening weekend tournament.  Hatton had hits in each of the final three games of the weekend ranking third with a three-game hit streak.
 
Pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi picked up her first win of the season on Sunday with a complete game victory against Prairie View A&M.  Last year's OVC Freshman of the Year and first-team All-OVC pitcher tossed 20 innings in three starts for the weekend including pitching into the ninth in the opener against Prairie View.  She had nine strikeouts in the three games going 1-1 for the weekend.  Oslanzi also hit for herself and in the DP role picking up two hits.
 
STREAKS & LEADERS (RETURNING)
Multiple Hit Games:  Abbey Crain (2), Kendall Grover (2), Karson Davey (2), Kira Manganello (1)
Multiple RBI Games:  Kira Manganello, Kendall Grover, Karson Davey
Active Hitting Streaks:   Kendall Grover (4), Abbey Crain (4), Abbi Hatton (3)
Active Reached Base Streak:  Kendall Grover (17), Abbey Crain (5), Abbi Hatton (3)
 
SEASON LONG NOTES
Senior shortstop Briana Gonzalez was named the Panthers preseason player to watch by the Ohio Valley Conference as part of its preseason information released in late January.  Gonzalez started all 57 games last season at shortstop, one of two EIU players to start every game during the season.  She hit .299 at the plate ranking fourth in the OVC in RBI with 39 and tied for third in the conference with eight home runs.  During her sophomore season (2023) she set the school for being hit by a pitch in a season with 17, that total ranked 12th in the NCAA that season.
 
Eastern Illinois was picked to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll released in late January.  The Panthers received five of the 20 first place votes in the poll and were just one total point behind Southern Indiana which was picked second.  Southast Missouri was selected as the preseason OVC favorite.  EIU won the OVC regular season title last year, the third in program history, posting 40 wins.   The Panthers were the OVC Tournament Champion in 2023 making the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Eastern Illinois returns OVC Player of the Year Kendall Grover as the junior third baseman ranked among the OVC leaders in most offensive categories hitting .354 with 18 doubles, ten home runs, 46 RBI, 20 stolen bases and 47 runs scored last season.  She was the OVC leader in home runs while ranking second in the league in RBI, doubles, hits and runs scored.  Grover earned NFCA Third Team All-Region honors landing in five EIU single season top ten record lists.  She was second on the team with 21-multiple hit games and ended the year with a 12-game active streak of reaching base in consecutive games.  She was recently named to the D1Softball Preseason List of the nation's top players at third base ranked 13th.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois heads to the Troy Cardinal Classic this weekend with the Panthers having previously played all three additional schools in the tournament field.  EIU played both Western Kentucky and Alabama State last season with the last meeting against host Troy during the 2020 season.  EIU is 2-4 all-time against WKU including a loss to the Hilltoppers last season at the WKU Tournament.  EIU is 8-1 all-time against Alabama State winning twice against the Hornets last year in the ASU Tournament.  Troy holds a 6-1 all-time lead in the series with EIU.   

ON DECK:  Following this weekend's tournament at Troy, EIU has additional early season tournaments at the Louisiana Monroe Warhawk Invitational (Feb. 21-23) and Florida International Softball Classic (Feb. 28 – March 2). 

HEAD COACH: Eastern Illinois softball will be under the direction of Kristi Paulson and Dan Paulson.  The husband / wife duo serve as co-head coaches of the program and are in their first season leading Eastern Illinois.  The couple came to EIU following a successful stint at the Junior College level winning 205 games in five years as head coaches at Parkland College.  They guided the team to three NJCAA World Series appearances in four full seasons with their first season cancelled due to COVID 19 in 2020.  They won 50-plus games in three seasons finishing 7th (2021), 5th (2023) and 9th (2024) in the nation each of those seasons. This past year (2024) their coaching staff was named the NJCAA Coaching Staff of the Year by the NFCA going 58-6.  Both Kristi and Dan attended Eastern Illinois as undergraduate students.