Eastern Illinois (4-11) Softball Upcoming Schedule

February 26 at Arizona (Hillenbrand Field (Tucson, Ariz.)
Thursday – Feb. 26 at #14 Arizona (12-5) at 7 pm … Live Stats  |  Watch ESPN+

February 27 at ASU/GCU Invite (Farrington Stadium – Tempe, Ariz.)
Friday – Feb. 27 vs. UC Riverside (1-8) at 11 am … Live Stats
Friday – Feb. 27 at #24 Arizona State (13-3)  at 4:30 pm … Live Stats  |  Watch ESPN+
 
February 28-March 1 at ASU/GCU Invite (GCU Stadium – Phoenix, Ariz.)
Saturday – Feb. 28 vs. UNLV (7-8) at 11:30 am … Live Stats 
Saturday – Feb. 28 at #22 Grand Canyon (16-0) at 5 pm … Live Stats  |  Watch MW Network
Sunday – March 1 at #22 Grand Canyon at 12:30 pm … Live Stats | Watch MW Network

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois travels to Arizona this weekend for what might be the most aggressive weekend schedule in program history with six games over four days with four of those contests against teams ranked in this week's NFCA Top 25 poll.  Action opens on Thursday with a single game at No. 14 Arizona.  The Panthers will then play two games at Arizona State on Friday as part of a jointly hosted tournament with Grand Canyon.  EIU faces UC Riverside and No. 24 Arizona State on Friday.  On Saturday and Sunday, the Panthers conclude with games at Grand Canyon playing UNLV and No. 22 Grand Canyon on Saturday before a final Sunday game with Grand Canyon.   EIU enters the weekend at 4-11 overall after losing all five games last weekend at the FIU Softball Classic in Miami, Fla.  

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
Marybeth Dyson heads to Arizona with the Panthers longest active hit streak after getting hits in all five games at the FIU Softball Classic.  Dyson had a pair of two hit games in the tournament against Incarnate Word and Florida A&M hitting .412 for the weekend in Miami.  On the season Dyson is one of two Panthers currently hitting over .300 with a .311 batting average.  Her 14 hits this season rank tied for eighth in the OVC. 
 
Senior transfer Lexie Griffin has provided a good bit of the Panthers offensive power in the early portion of the season.  Griffin leads the team in batting average (.333), doubles (4), home runs (2) and RBI (10).  She ranks fifth in the OVC in RBI while sixth in the conference for doubles.  She is one of two players on the roster with four multi-hit games and one of two Panthers with three multi-RBI games.  She has driven in a season high three runs in games against Georgia Southern and FIU.
 
While Marybeth Dyson has the longest active hit streak on the team, sophomore Marshall Maddux has the longest active reached base streak having reached in seven consecutive games played.  Marshall had hits in the last two games of the Mardi Gras Mambo Tournament and then hits in the opening three games of the FIU Softball Classic for a five game hit streak.  She reached on walks in the final two games in Miami to extend the streak to seven games.  Maddux is hitting .227 this season with an on-base percentage of .346.
 
Transfer infielder Chloe Wamboldt hit .438 during the FIU Softball Classic to post the highest average of the weekend for a Panthers player.  Wamboldt had two stolen bases moving her season total to seven which ranks third in the OVC this season.  She is hitting .271 for the year with two doubles and a triple. 
 
Eastern Illinois added three home runs to its season total at the FIU Softball Classic as Lexie Griffin, Maddux Marshall and Alisha Frederick all had home runs in Miami.  As a team EIU now has six home runs with Lexie Griffin the team leader with two.  Abbi Hatton and Hillary Springer hit home runs earlier this season. 
 
Bryanna French made four appearances with one start over the weekend at the FIU Softball Classic.  French had eight strike outs during 9.1 innings of work in the circle.  On the year French is second in the OVC in strike outs with 29 during 35 innings of work this season.   Teammate Rylan Gick is sixth in the conference in strike outs setting down 20 batters in 26 innings this season. 
 
Freshman Grace Lemke has been the fourth pitcher on the Panthers staff to see action this season.  Lemke made four appearances at the FIU Softball Classic tossing 7.1 innings with seven strike outs.  She posted a weekend ERA of 2.86 which was the best among the four Panther pitchers that saw time in the circle.  Lemke picked up her first win of the season in the opening tournament over Georgia Southern with 4.1 innings of work in the circle. 
 
Walks have been an Achilles Heel for Eastern Illinois pitching staff this season as the Panthers have issued 67 walks in 92 innings this season.  The walks are the second most issued by an OVC pitching staff this season. On the flip side, EIU does lead the OVC with 70 strike outs as a staff holding opponents to the fourth lowest batting average among OVC pitching staffs through three weeks.
 
Eastern Illinois will face three nationally ranked teams this weekend as the Panthers play at No. 14 Arizona, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 22 Grand Canyon during the weekend trip to the Desert.  The Panthers have already played one nationally ranked team this season losing at the Mardi Gras Mambo to No. 25 Southeastern Louisiana.  Prior to that game EIU had not faced a nationally ranked team in the regular season since the 2022 season when they played No. 15 Louisiana.   Between those two ranked games EIU did face No. 3 Texas in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and No. 15 Northwestern in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.  The last time EIU beat a ranked opponent was May 1, 2007, with a 6-2 win over No. 22 Illinois State.
 
Eastern Illinois will log a bunch of miles over the first four weeks of the season as the Panthers have played in four early season tournaments.  The Panthers opened in Statesboro, Georgia for week one followed by games in Youngsville, Louisiana for week two.  Last week EIU traveled to Miami, Florida before the trip this upcoming weekend to the Arizona Desert.  All told, EIU will have traveled 8,754 miles from the Charleston, Illinois campus over the first four weeks of action.
 
STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games: Marybeth Dyson (4), Lexie Griffin (4),  Alisha Frederick (3), Chloe Wamboldt (3)
Multiple RBI Games: Abbi Hatton (3), Lexie Griffin (3), Lizzie Stiverson (1), Alisha Frederick (1)
Active Hitting Streaks: Marybeth Dyson (5), Chloe Wamboldt (2)
Active Reached Base Streak: Marshall Maddux (7), Marybeth Dyson (5), Chloe Wamboldt (2)
 
SEASON LONG NOTES
Eastern Illinois was picked to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll after winning back-to-back OVC regular season titles in 2024 & 2025 while winning the OVC Tournament crown last season.   The Panthers received three first place votes in the preseason poll which was led by Southeast Missouri as the preseason favorite and SIUE in second. 
 
Karlie McKenzie was ranked No. 79 on the D1Softball.com preseason rankings for Mid-Major Players.  The senior pitcher made 38 appearances with 17 starts in the circle going 11-3 with a 2.79 ERA and an OVC leading six saves.  The six saves tied the EIU single season record and ranked seventh in the NCAA for the year.  In OVC action she was 6-0 with four saves and a 1.87 ERA.   In the OVC Tournament McKenzie was 2-0 with one save and tossed a complete game eight-inning shutout in the OVC Tournament championship game to earn OVC Tournament MVP honors. 
 
EIU returns a pair of first team All-OVC players from last season's roster in Karlie McKenzie and Mo Hance.  McKenzie was the OVC Tournament MVP as a pitcher and a first team All-OVC selection going 11-3 with a 2.79 ERA and six saves.  Hance hit .360 last year with three doubles and 16 RBI to earn first team at the designated player spot.
 
Abbi Hatton and Bryanna French were both named as OVC players to watch for the upcoming season.  Hatton was an All-OVC Newcomer team selection last year hitting .285 with seven doubles, four home runs and a team-best 38 RBI.  French made 19 appearances in the circle with a 3-4 record and 3.95 ERA including one save in OVC play.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois will face teams from the Big 12, Mountain West and Big West Conferences this weekend with the Panthers having previously faced four of the five schools on the weekend schedule.  This will be the first-ever meeting between EIU and Arizona on the softball diamond.  On Friday, EIU will face UC Riverside for the second time in program history.   EIU holds a 1-0 series lead with the other meeting in 2007.  EIU is 0-1 all-time against Arizona State with the schools last playing in 2000.  EIU last played UNLV in 2000 as well losing that game and trailing the series 0-1.  The Panthers played Grand Canyon twice during the 2023 season at the Incarnate Word tournament losing both games to GCU. 

ON DECK:  Next weekend Eastern Illinois will open Ohio Valley Conference play on March 7-8 at Morehead State.  The Panthers home opener takes place the following weekend hosting Lindenwood on March 14 at 3 pm at Williams Field.

HEAD COACHES: Eastern Illinois softball is 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 second season leading Eastern Illinois.  In their opening season at EIU they guided the Panthers to 34 wins including the OVC regular season and OVC Tournament titles.  EIU played in the NCAA Regional in Austin, Texas.  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. In 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.