Eastern couldn’t have picked a better time to open the newly remodeled Williams Field as the Panthers swept Morehead State right out of Illinois in the three game set the two had this past weekend.

The Panthers brought themselves back into Ohio Valley Conference contention with the three victories against the Eagles, and the team currently stands in fourth place in the OVC.

An encouraging effort in all three games allowed for the Panthers to regain their footing with four wins in their last five games. Over the weekend, the offense proved it could provide enough pressure to win some games, and the pitching staff showed it could be consistent enough to make the runs they were given hold up.

Freshman hurler Andrea Darnell provided the Panthers with the largest pitching impact against Morehead State with two of the three victories going to her credit.

In the first game, Darnell threw five innings of scoreless ball to defeat Stephanie Hernandez who threw a complete game but still could only earn a loss.

Darnell grew fatigued by the sixth inning and allowed a leadoff home run to Michelle McCrady, the first batter she faced that inning. As soon as the ball landed over the left field fence, Eastern manager Lloydene Searle made the slow walk out to the pitcher’s mound to remove her starter.

But still, Searle stated she believed in her young pitcher but she understood that at that point in the game Darnell was ready to come out.

“I had confidence she (Darnell) could pitch the sixth and maybe even finish off the game,” Searle said. “But after the home run, I thought a fresh, hard throwing arm like Heather’s (Hoescehn) would be a better option for us.”

Hoeschen did allow one run as she got into trouble, but it was unearned due to an Eastern error.

But the two runs scored in the sixth inning only tied the game up because Sandyn Short and Cassandra North had driven in runs in the first and third innings respectively.

With the game tied, Eastern wasted no time to strike back against the Eagles and went ahead for good in the bottom half of the sixth.

Short struck again to lead off the inning, this time with a double off the right-center field wall. She was replaced with Bridget Owen on the base paths, and some risky chances take by Owen got the go ahead run home.

First, Owen nearly got herself thrown out at third on a ground ball to the shortstop but she made it in and kicked the ball lose. Owens’ speed came into play again as she crossed the plate on a pass ball. The Panthers tacked up one more run on the scoreboard and finished the game with a 4-2 lead.

The second game was dominated by the third freshman pitcher of the two games, Brittany Whelan.

Whelan threw a complete game to defeat Lauren Cook of Morehead, who also pitched the entire game. Whelan only allowed one run while striking out three and only walking one over the seven innings she pitched.

The Panthers offense tallied three runs in the game, as Short drove in two runs and senior Kristin Lovering driving in the third run of the game.

“When you are finally able to come and play on the home field you finally get the upper hand for the team, at least that was what happened today,” Searle said. “When I can say after the game that there really isn’t anything we need to work on, then you know we had a good couple of games.”

There was no let down in the Panthers as the third game rolled around on Saturday, as Eastern took off early and often against Cook who had pitched the previous day as well.

In the first inning, which Cook could not survive, the Panthers scored seven runs. It looked like Cook was going to get out of the inning after giving up two runs, but she loaded the bases with two outs. That led to the drive of the game which occurred when freshmen Katy Steele connected for her second collegiate home run, this won being a grand slam. Eastern added one more run before the inning ended, and the game was over before the second inning could start.

Darnell was able to go on cruise control and only allowed one hit before the game was called due to the eight-run rule before the bottom half of the fifth inning.

With the three game series resulting in three victories for the Panthers, the team understood how much of a boost they just gave themselves with how well they played.

“I felt bad for our pitchers, like (Andrea) Darnell because we (her teammates) are the only ones who knew how good they were,” Rachel Karos said. “We showed a lot of people this weekend how good we can be, and we all should feel really good about how we played.”