Eastern Illinois (26-20) Softball Upcoming Schedule
 
April 22 vs. UIC (19-25-1) … at Charleston, Ill. (Williams Field)
Wednesday – April 22 at 5 pm … Live Stats  | ESPN+

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois hosts UIC for a Wednesday midweek game at Williams Field as the Panthers are coming off a weekend OVC sweep against Tennessee Tech to remain in sole possession of first place in the conference standings.  EIU is riding a five-game win streak and is 26-20 overall.  UIC plays a midweek game on Purdue on Tuesday night before the trip to Charleston.  The Flames are 19-25-1 overall and did not play this past weekend.

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
Freshman Viola Smith has made her collegiate hits to date count.   She had her first career hit during the Panthers March spring break trip with a home run against Lipscomb.   On Saturday she was inserted into the starting line-up in the second game and picked up two hits, both solo home runs.  Her fourth career hit for the Panthers came on Sunday with a two-run double.  Smith is hitting just .250 for the season but has a .875 slugging percentage.
 
Rylan Gick collected her tenth win of the season on Saturday tossing a complete game shutout against Tennessee Tech.  It was the second win of the week for Gick who also picked up the win in the start of Saint Louis in the midweek game.  Gick was 2-0 for the week with a 0.64 ERA tossing 11 innings of six hit softball with 11 strikeouts. 
 
Lizzie Stiverson has been swinging one of the hottest bats on the Eastern Illinois team over the past month as the Illinois transfer leads the Panthers with a .350 average.  She added a pair of multi-hit games last week giving her a team-high 17 games this season with multiple hits. 
 
Mo Hance picked up hits in all four games last week as the sophomore outfielder increased her current hitting streak to ten straight games.  Hance has increased her season batting average to.315 on the season while hitting .485 over her current ten game hit streak.  She is one of five Panther players with 40 or more hits this season – Lizzie Stiverson and Chloe Wamboldt are tied for the team lead with 49 hits each. 
 
Eastern Illinois improved its team win total to 26 over the weekend with a series sweep of Tennessee Tech.  The Panthers have seven regular season games remaining plus any games in the 2026 OVC Tournament in Peoria, Ill, on May 6-9.  EIU is looking to reach the 30 win mark for the third straight season after winning 34 games last year as the program made its second NCAA Tournament in the last three years.  EIU has won 17 OVC games this season and three more conference wins in the remaining six OVC games would give them 20 or more OVC wins for the third straight season. 
 
Freshman Adysen Rios will face a familiar face in the UIC dugout when the Panthers host the Flames on Wednesday.  Rios older sister, Cameran, is a junior infielder for UIC hitting .362 for the season.   The older Rios sister played youth travel ball for EIU's current head coaches Kristi Paulson and Dan Paulson.   The younger Adysen Rios has played in 32 games this season at EIU, primarily as a late game defensive replacement hitting just .200 this year. 
 
Alisha Frederick reached base in all four games last week with at least one hit in each contest.  The junior has now reached base in 22 consecutive games which ranks as the 12th longest active streak in the NCAA entering the week.  Frederick is hitting .309 for the season with a team high 25 walks. 
 
STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games: Lizzie Stiverson (17),  Chloe Wamboldt (14),  Alisha Frederick (11),  Marybeth Dyson (10)
Multiple RBI Games: Abbi Hatton (8), Lexie Griffin (7), Alisha Frederick (6), Lizzie Stiverson (6)
Active Hitting Streaks: Mo Hance (10), Alisha Frederick (9), Peyton Dwigans (5)
Active Reached Base Streak:  Alisha Frederick (22), Mo Hance (10), Sophia Olman (8)
 
SERIES HISTORY: UIC and Eastern Illinois will meet on the softball diamond for the first time since the 2014 season.  UIC has been dominant in the series with a 14-2 all-time series lead.   The 2014 meeting took place at the Rosemont Indoor Dome with a 4-3 UIC win.  The last time the two schools played each other on campus was in 2001 with UIC winning a doubleheader in Charleston.  The Panthers last win in the series came during the 1997 season at the Florida Spring Break Tournament.

ON DECK:  Eastern Illinois travels to Southern Indiana for an OVC series this weekend before hosting Tennessee State to wrap up the regular season at home on May 1-2.

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.