The Panthers opened their season in the Charleston South Invite in South Carolina, and produced better numbers offensively than they had throughout most of last season.

Last year the Panthers scored a total number of 105 runs through 48 games, which was barley over two runs a game. Turning that completely around, Eastern opened with 28 runs in their five games in South Carolina.

The final three games they averaged about seven and a half runs per game and won each of those game by at least four runs.

During the five game tournament, Eastern won three of the games. They ended up with victories against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, Southern Charleston and UNC-Greensboro.

Eastern coach Lloydene Searle thought, before the team left for South Carolina, that the offense was ahead of the team’s pitching at that point in time. While the pitching was solid for four of the five games, the Panther offense did heat up while down south and gave Eastern a boost throughout the tournament.

“I definitely think that the way our offense played was solid throughout the games we played,” Searle said. “Scoring runs and coming from behind are two tough things to do when a team is playing its first games, and we proved that we could do both successfully over the weekend.”

In the three victories for Eastern, the team averaged nearly eight runs a game and provided the pitching staff with leads that allowed the pitchers to go on cruise control.

In four of the five games, Eastern’s starting pitchers turned in complete games. This pleased Searle because not only did those pitchers eat innings for the staff, they also pitched quality innings over those games.

The best example of that is the Panthers’ loss to Albany, in which freshmen Andrea Darnell pitched a complete game but lost 2-1. Even in that loss, it was obvious that Eastern was close enough that one or two plays could have changed the outcome.

“It was nice to see that three of our pitchers were able to get their first victories with us under their belt,” Searle said. “The offense provided us with the opportunity for victory, and they (the pitchers) were able to finish off the games solidly.”

The largest school Eastern played over the weekend was Boston College, which turned out to be the one game that Eastern lost by multiple runs. But, the Panthers were able to stay in the game with the Eagles who had already played multiple games this season.

The Panthers had the game tied at four up until the final four innings of the game but had trouble keeping the Eagles down in those final innings.

The Panthers started freshmen Heather Hoeschen, who lasted until the fourth inning and gave up five runs over that time. Then Eastern turned to sophomore Ashley Condon who was effective until she was tagged for a home run in the seventh inning, resulting in three runs and the victory for the Eagles.

Overall, Searle was pleased with the experience her players picked up over the weekend, especially the young pitching staff.

“It was important for us to get those young pitchers some experience from this tournament,” Searle said. “We were able to do that and get an idea of how these girls can perform, and that is what we needed.”