After another disappointing weekend for the Panther softball team, Eastern hits the road again to face a Southeast Missouri State team, which has played its best softball within the Ohio Valley Conference.

SEMO (11-23, 7-6) has struggled for much of the season, especially early on when the Indians only gained four victories outside of conference play. While the Indians may not be having their best year, the Panthers (9-28, 4-9) still understand the importance of this matchup.

Not only is it important for the Panthers to gain a victory within the OVC, but it is also important for the team to start playing its best as the season dies down.

“We have always played games so we can peak at the right time,” Eastern softball coach Lloydene Searle said. “There is no doubt in my mind that we will perform well in the conference championship.”

Searle’s optimistic attitude is focused around the idea that her team still has a good chance to surprise some people as it heads down the stretch of its regular-season schedule and into post-season play.

Another reason for Searle to be optimistic is that over the weekend both Eastern’s pitching and defense played the best it had all season long. No longer did the Panthers pitch and field their way out of any of the games. Instead the team played stingy defense, holding Eastern Kentucky to three runs in three games.

The first game of the three game series at Eastern Kentucky, the Panthers only lost by two runs as they were shutout by the Indians 2-0. In the second game Eastern won by a score of 1-0, which was the same score in the third game; only the Panthers were not on the good end of that result.

Overall, the Panthers played sharper last weekend than they had in a while, which was proven by all three games being so close. But even though the team did not play as well on the offense as they needed to, the Panthers think the team’s offense will come around in time for the conference championship.

“We really had a heart-breaker over the weekend, but the reality is that we easily could have taken two of three from them (Eastern Kentucky),” Searle said. “We put our best foot forward, but it is tough when the game comes down to the last couple of at-bats because of the pressure.

“Of course a game isn’t lost in the last couple of at-bats because a team has to look at the entire game. But as a coach I can only hope we will put out those games in the future and win the close contests.”

Both Eastern and SEMO struggled early in the season, but while Eastern has struggled to a 4-9 conference record, the Indians have won seven of their 13 conference games.

The Panthers also are looking to get the offense playing well because the team will only have six more regular season games before the conference tournament starts.

“Even when SEMO has down years they will always give you a good fight,” Searle said. “Our pitchers have to keep us in the game like they have been, and the we just have to believe that we will score some runs.

“I really believe that in time our offense will come around, but we just need to try to relax and live with the results.”