Eastern Illinois (11-16, 6-0 OVC) Softball Upcoming Schedule
 
March 18 at Lipscomb (7-19) … at Nashville, Tenn. (Draper Diamond)
Wednesday – March 18 at 5 pm … Live Stats  |  ESPN+
 
March 21-22 at SIUE (13-13, 6-0 OVC) … at Edwardsville, Ill. (Cougar Field)
Saturday – March 21 at 12 pm … Live Stats | ESPN+
Saturday – March 21 at 2:30 pm … Live Stats | ESPN+
Sunday – March 22 at 12 pm … Live Stats  |  ESPN+


ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois put together impressive rallies all weekend long as the Panthers swept the weekend series from Lindenwood to improve to 11-16 overall, 6-0 in the OVC.   The Panthers enter the week as one of two undefeated teams in the OVC as both EIU and SIUE opened the year at 6-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play.   The two schools meet on Saturday for a three-game series in Edwardsville with SIUE hosting Saint Louis for a midweek game first.  SIUE is 13-13, 6-0 in the OVC.   EIU will also play a midweek game prior to the big early season OVC series visiting Lipscomb on Wednesday.  Lipscomb is currently 7-19.

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
Eastern Illinois has gotten off to a good start to the Ohio Valley Conference season for the fourth straight year as EIU swept its opening two conference series at Morehead State and against Lindenwood to improve to 6-0 in the OVC.  The last two seasons when EIU has won OVC regular season championships, the Panthers have gotten off to 5-1 starts in OVC play winning over 20 conference games in each of those seasons.  In 2023 EIU opened OVC play with a 9-0 record eventually finishing second in the regular season and winning the OVC Tournament title to punch the Panthers first ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Eastern Illinois trailed Lindenwood 6-1 heading into the of the sixth inning in Friday night's series opener.  EIU scored twice in the sixth and tied the game in the seventh on a three-run Lizzie Stiverson home run.  Eventually the Panthers would prevail in 14 innings on a Chloe Wamboldt RBI single to score Marybeth Dyson.   The 14-inning game tied for the second longest in the program's Division I history behind a 20-inning contest against Evansville back in April of 1984.  EIU has had three other 14-inning games at the Division I level prior to Friday playing Tennessee Tech (April 2011), Western Illinois (April 1995) and Northern Iowa (April 1986).
 
In Saturday's doubleheader with Lindenwood, EIU trailed 8-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.  The Panthers scored five runs in the fourth inning and took the lead with seven runs in the fifth inning during a 12-9 win over the Lions.  Lexie Griffin hit a grand slam to power the big fifth inning rally.  It was Griffin's fifth home run of the season as she ranks tied for first in the OVC in home runs this season with her team leading 21 RBI ranking third in the conference.
 
A pair of Panthers extended their current hitting steaks as both Chloe Wamboldt and Mo Hance picked up at least one hit in each of the Panthers weekend games with Lindenwood as both players now have six game active hit streaks.  Wamboldt had nine hits in the series at Morehead State before collecting one hit in each weekend game with Lindenwood.  The junior college transfer leads EIU with a .337 average entering the week.  She is currently fourth in the OVC with ten steals.  Hance continues to increase her season batting average moving up to .276 on the season after collecting four hits in the weekend series with Lindenwood.  She had one double with four RBI for the weekend.
 
Rylan Gick was masterful in the final game of the series as she tossed a complete game striking out seven batters without allowing a walk.  Gick picked up her fourth win of the season to improve to 4-3 on the season with a 5.08 ERA.  For the week, Gick pitched in three games with a 3.05 ERA tossing 18.1 innings with 11 strikeouts and only one walk issued.  On the season Gick now has 42 strikeouts which ranks fourth in the OVC.  Her teammate Bryanna French ranks third in the conference with 44 strikeouts.  As a pitching staff ranks second in the OVC with 124 strikeouts. 
 
Freshman Brooklyn Groppel appeared in all three games of the weekend series entering as a pinch-hitter in all three contests and then collecting additional at-bats as the designated player.  Groppel was 2-for-3 at the plate with an additional three walks drawn for a weekend on-base percentage of .833. 
 
Eastern Illinois has put together one of the most difficult schedules in program history as the Panthers have faced five nationally ranked teams in the preseason.  That difficult schedule seems to have helped the Panthers as they are off to a 6-0 start in the OVC.   The Panthers non-conference strength of schedule was rated fourth hardest in the nation this season.  Nebraska has the toughest non-conference schedule followed by Georgia Tech, UC Riverside, Eastern Illinois and Coastal Carolina in the top five this season.
 
Eastern Illinois had some power at the plate for the weekend as EIU hit .302 as a team for the weekend series against Lindenwood with three doubles, two triples and three home runs.  The team slugging percentage for the weekend was .453 with 29 runs scored and 29 RBI.  Alisha Frederick led the way with five RBI and had one of the two triples.  Marybeth Dyson had the other triple.  Home runs on the weekend came off the bats of Lexie Griffin (5), Lizzie Stiverson (2) and Sophia Olman (1).   As a team EIU has now hit 15 home runs this season which ranks tied for the OVC team lead. 
 
Marybeth Dyson collected four hits in the 14 inning game against Lindenwood to open the Panthers weekend series.   It was the sixth multi-hit game this season for Dyson which ranks third on the EIU roster.  She is the first EIU player this season with four or more hits in a game.  Chloe Wamboldt has the most multi-hit games on the Panthers roster with eight with five of those as three-hit games.  Alisha Frederick has a three-hit game to join Dyson and Wamboldt was players with three or more hits in a game. 
 
STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games: Chloe Wamboldt (8), Lizzie Stiverson (7), Marybeth Dyson (6),  Alisha Frederick (6)
Multiple RBI Games: Lexie Griffin (6), Lizzie Stiverson (4), Abbi Hatton (3), Alisha Frederick (3)
Active Hitting Streaks: Chloe Wamboldt (6), Mo Hance (6), Lizzie Stiverson (3), Alisha Frederick (3) 
Active Reached Base Streak:  Chloe Wamboldt (6), Abbi Hatton (6), Mo Hance (6),
 
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 Lipscomb and SIUE during the Panthers spring break trip after the opening game at Murray State was canceled due to weather.  EIU and Lipscomb have met seven previous times with the Bison holding a 6-1 series lead.  EIU and SIUE will be meeting for the 58th time on Saturday with the Cougars holding a 32-25 all-time lead in the series.  EIU did beat SIUE for the OVC Tournament Championship last year in Peoria as well as the 2023 OVC Tournament Championship in Oxford, Ala.

ON DECK:  Eastern Illinois returns home to Williams Field following its Spring Break trip with games in Nashville and Edwardsville.  The Panthers are set to host Bradley in a midweek doubleheader before Western Illinois comes to Charleston.

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.