Led by junior pitcher Pepper Gay, the Illinois Fighting Illini defeated the Eastern Lady Panthers in an extra inning game by a final score of 4-1.

Gay pitched eight innings for the Illini, allowing six hits and one walk. She allowed only one run in the game that came when Panther outfielder Melise Brown tripled in the fourth inning and scored on a groundball.

Eastern sophomore Stephanie Maday also pitched a great game in the loss. She went eight innings and only allowed six hits and three walks, which resulted in four runs for the Illini. Maday was extremely efficient, striking out 10 Illini and getting 12 groundball outs.

Eastern head coach Kim Schuette was very proud of Maday’s performance.

“Maday threw an awesome game and we should take a lot of confidence into the weekend going one-one into the eighth inning with a team like that,” Schuette said.

For a good part of the game, it looked like Eastern was going to win the game. Leading 1-0 heading into the sixth inning, things were looking bright for the Panthers until Illini freshman third baseman Jess Perkins came to the plate. Perkins blasted a solo homerun to left field to give the Illini a share of the lead.

Maday stayed composed on the mound and finished the inning. Things would stay all squared up until the top of the eighth inning when the Illini put the game out of reach.

Maday started the inning off by getting an easy ground out to herself. Illini outfielder Nikki Simpson then singled through the left side to give her team an opportunity to take the lead. The next Illini batter grounded out to put Eastern in a good position to get out of the inning.

Senior infielder Danielee Vaji would then step up to the plate for the Illini with a runner on first and two outs. Vaji ripped a double to leftfield, taking advantage of the opportunity and putting her team in the lead for the first time in the game. The Illini would then go on to score two more runs, putting the game out of reach for the Panthers.

Junior catcher Abby Wood led the Panthers at the plate, going two-for-three in the game. Reynae Hutchinson also chipped in with the Panthers lone RBI.

Eastern now has an overall record of 20-17 with a conference record of 10-6.

Eastern’s next game will take place this weekend when the play conference rival Tennessee Tech at Williams Field in Cookevile, Tenn . The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, with the first pitch taking place at 1 p.m. They will play the last game of the series on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Erik Jensen can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].