It started more than two hours later than expected, but Eastern managed to get one game of its scheduled doubleheader in against Ball State.

Three other Panther athletic events scheduled Tuesday (baseball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis) were canceled because of the storm that swept through Charleston mid-afternoon.

“We had looked at the radar and originally it said it was going to stop raining at 4 p.m.,” said Eastern head coach Kim Schuette. “It didn’t stop raining until 5. They were already three-fourths of the way here so there’s no reason not to try to play when we have lights. Might as well take advantage of the lights.”

The first game was scheduled to start at 4 p.m., but was delayed for more than two hours. The first game officially started at 6:15 p.m. and ended at 8 p.m.

Both teams decided with potentially more bad weather coming in, plus it being late, that a second game wasn’t necessary, said Ball State head coach Craig Nicholson.

Mackie garners honor

The Ohio Valley Conference recognized Karyn Mackie’s superb pitching performance against Tennessee State.

Mackie was named co-OVC pitcher of the week on Monday.

The junior right-hander picked up both Eastern wins, including Sunday’s 1-0 win, in which Mackie pitched a one-hitter.

Mackie gave up a hit to TSU’s leadoff batter, but did not allow a hit the rest of the game.

She retired the final 16 batters to end the game, including the final two on strikeouts.

This is the first time in Mackie’s career she has been awarded a pitcher of the week award by the OVC.

Pitcher moves up strikeout list

Sophomore pitcher Kathleen Jacoby recorded her 200th career strikeout when she struck out Tennessee State’s Christy Hill in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Jacoby added two more strikeouts in the inning, struck out two more in the second game of the doubleheader and then struck out both batters she faced in Tuesday’s game.

The 206 career strikeouts move Jacoby solely into fifth place on Eastern’s all-time career strikeout list.

Revolving door at third base

Eastern started three different players in its three-game series against TSU.

Junior Allyson Nolte started the first game, freshman Denee’ Menzione started Saturday’s second game and freshman Stephanie Militello started Sunday’s game.

It was Militello’s second career start at third base and she played an instrumental role in Mackie’s one-hit shutout.

Militello, a walk-on in softball and also plays on Eastern’s rugby team, fielded all seven groundballs hit at her cleanly, recording seven assists in the process.

“She got a great jump on a few balls that would have gone to the shortstop and cut them off and made them look easy,” Schuette said. “She’s an athlete. It took her awhile to get caught up to the team, but she’s earned her spot.”

Militello also started Tuesday’s game at third base.

Adams average increases slightly

Before last Wednesday’s doubleheader against Saint Louis, senior shortstop Chelsea Adams was only hitting .208.

She has raised her batting average 29 points since then, up to .237.

Adams is 4-for-11 in the Panthers’ last four games, driving in a run and scoring three runs.

“I’m more relaxed at the plate, so I think that helped me a lot, too,” Adams said. “It helps any time you get a hit, just one hit in a game just kind of builds up to the next game.”

Different lineup for every game

Schuette has not had the same consecutive starting lineup in back-to-back games this year.

In the Panthers’ 31 games this year, Eastern has had 31 different starting lineups.

“I wish that we had nine players that were batting .300 and could have a steady lineup and make it much less headaches before the games,” Schuette said.

The Panthers have had nearly a different starting lineup for every game this season.

This doesn’t mean Schuette employs drastic lineup changes every game.

In Saturday’s first game against TSU, Karyn Mackie pitched and hit in the seventh spot, while Adams hit in the ninth spot and played centerfield.

In Saturday’s second game, Adams played shortstop and hit in the seventh spot, while freshman Lauren Brackett hit in the ninth spot and played left field.

Sophomore Sarah Coppert is the only Panther to start every game at second base, the only position one player has played at all season.

Schuette has started six different players in right field this season, five in centerfield and five at first base.

In the batting order, Schuette has used 12 different players in the ninth spot, 11 in the eighth spot and seven in the seventh spot.

The least-changed spot in the batting order has been the third spot.

Senior catcher Sandyn Short has hit in 25 games there, while junior utility player Robyn Mackie has for six games.