Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
PEORIA, Ill. – It took a second game, extra innings and a wild pitch before Eastern Illinois could win its second Ohio Valley Conference softball championship in the last three years with a 1-0 win over SIUE.
EIU 1, SIUE 0 – Game 2 (8 innings)
A pitcher's duel between starters
Karlie McKenzie and Avery Arwood came down to extra innings in the if-necessary game as EIU won 1-0 in eight innings on Saturday afternoon.
Karlie McKenzie tossed eight shutout innings to improve to 11-3 on the season while earning OVC Tournament MVP honors. McKenzie was 2-0 in the tournament with a save factoring in all three of EIU's wins.
In the bottom of the eighth
Kendall Grover led off the inning with a double to left center. She moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by
Alisha Frederick and then scored on a wild pitch, sending the Panthers to their second NCAA Tournament appearance.
EIU improved to 34-20 on the season while SIUE fell to 32-22 on the year.
Grover,
Karson Davey and
Briana Gonzalez picked up the three hits for EIU in the game.
Madison Kearns had two of the Cougars five hits. Arwood fell to 11-8 overall.
SIUE 4, EIU 3 – Game 1
SIUE built a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth as the Cougars held on to beat Eastern Illinois 4-3 on Saturday to force a winner-take-all Ohio Valley Conference Championship game.
Madison Kearns started the scoring driving in the first run. Kaylynn Salyars followed with an RBI single and Anna Henderson brought home the final run with an RBI single to right. SIUE's other run in inning occurred on an error.
EIU chipped into the lead with a run in the sixth on a
Karson Davey RBI single.
The Panthers closed it to a one-run contest in the seventh with bases loaded walk to
Alisha Frederick and a bases loaded hit-by-pitch to
Briana Gonzalez.
Emma Henderson (8-5) who started the game in the circle came back in to close the seventh with a ground out with bases loaded.
McKenzie Oslanzi (20-13) took the loss in the circle for EIU.
Kendall Grover had a triple for the only extra base hit for EIU.
Salyars had two hits to lead SIUE.
EIU had McKenzie, Oslanzi, Grover and Gonzalez all named to the All-Tournament team.
