Eastern Illinois softball picked up a pair of wins over Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers won 7-3 and 6-0 over the Golden Eagles at Williams Field. EIU improved to 25-20 overall, 16-3 in the OVC. TTU fell to 15-26 overall, 11-9 in the OVC.
EIU 7, TTU 3
EIU took advantage of two unearned runs and added some late insurance runs to collect the 7-3 game one win.
EIU led 2-0 after the opening inning with TTU coming back to tie the game in the third. The Panthers runs were driven in by
Alisha Frederick and
Abbi Hatton. Jailynn Paderez and Ashley Capelouto both drove in the Golden Eagles runs.
In the bottom of the third EIU took advantage of an error in the outfield scoring two unearned runs. After TTU closed the gap to 4-3 in the fifth on an Ella Bishop RBI single, the Panthers pushed the lead back to two in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by
Lizzie Stiverson. Stiverson was 3-for-3 in the opener.
EIU tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on a
Peyton Dwigans two run single to left.
The offense was enough for starter
Karlie McKenzie to improve to 6-8 while
Bryanna French tossed two scoreless innings for her third save.
Marybeth Dyson joined Stiverson as Panthers with three hits while Frederick and
Mo Hance added two hits each.
Emily York (8-12) took the loss for TTU. The Golden Eagles offense was held to five hits in the game.
EIU 6, TTU 0
Rylan Gick tossed a complete game shutout and
Viola Smith helped provide some of the offensive fire power at EIU won the second game 6-0.
Gick allowed just five hits while striking out seven batters to improve to 10-4 on the season.
Smith put the Panthers on the board in the third inning with the first of her two solo home runs. Smith has now collected three college hits, all home runs. Her second home run was a solo shot in the fifth.
Smith opened the offensive flood gates in the third for a five run inning for EIU.
Sophia Olman had an RBI double with
Mo Hance delivering a two run single.
Olman, Smith and
Chloe Wamboldt all had two hits to lead EIU.
Abbee Klinefelter had two of the five Golden Eagles hits. Addison Abell (3-3) took the loss in the circle.
