Eastern Illinois softball lost its opening two games on Friday at the FIU Softball Classic falling 10-5 to Incarnate Word in the opener before a 3-0 loss to host Florida International in the night cap. EIU falls to 4-8 on the season.
UIW 10, EIU 5
In the tournament opener for Eastern Illinois the Panthers stole a run to tie the game at 1-1 in the third before Incarnate Word answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning as part of an eventual 10-5 win.
Trailing 1-0 heading into the third inning. Chloe Wambdoldt and
Mo Hance were part of a double steal with Hance swiping home after leading off the inning with an infield single. Hance moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Maddux Marshall and third on a Wamboldt single to set up the steal. Wamboldt led EIU with three of the Panthers ten hits.
Dominique Guerra put the Cardinals back up with an RBI in the bottom of the third before UIW tacked on two unearned runs. Three home runs later in the game helped give UIW a cushion with two home runs by Victoria Altamiran.
EIU had a homer of its own with a solo shot by Marshall in the fifth.
Marybeth Dyson and
Lexie Griffin added the other two RBI for the Panthers offense. Dyson had two hits.
Bryanna French suffered the loss falling to 2-3.
Bella Mitchell picked up the win improving to 3-1 as UIW moved to 9-4.
FIU 3, EIU 0
Florida International scored in the bottom of the first and that run proved to be enough offense for FIU as they beat Eastern Illinois 3-0.
EIU put together four hits against FIU starter Brooke McNichols (3-0) moving a runner to second base in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings but never able to find the run producing hit.
McNichols threw the complete game as FIU improved to 11-2.
EIU's hits, all singles, in the game came from
Chloe Wamboldt,
Marybeth Dyson,
Mo Hance and
Maddux Marshall.
FIU scored in the first on an RBI single to right by Janelle Martinez. They would tack on a second run in the second inning against EIU starter
Karlie McKenzie (0-4). Kendall Catherwoo had the RBI single in the second.
FIU's final run came in the sixth on an RBI single by Kally Meredith who was one of two FIU players with two hits in the game.
