Above Williams Field on Tuesday evening, the sky, coated in an effervescent orange, seemed to signal that the Panthers were indeed done with practice.

“Look at that sunset,” Eastern head coach Kim Schuette told her team.

Now, when the sun does in fact set on Wednesday’s doubleheader with Indiana State, and the season as a whole, the Panthers will do so without the services of Valerie Thompson, who, as a freshman, threw the first perfect game in program history versus Alabama State.

Thompson’s knee injury, inflicted in a 7-0 loss to Murray State, has been diagnosed as a torn ACL, and, although her medical team has not yet established a time table for return, she will certainly be out for the remainder of the season.

These games, apart from a matchup at Butler in two weeks, will signify an end to non-conference play.

The trees may have just begun to bud, but the Sycamores of the Indiana State softball team are wilting away.

Fresh off a streak of eight successive losses, their worst mark since 2016, the Sycamores cannot seem to gain any foothold.

Similarly, it has been over a week since the last Panther victory, culminating in losses to Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State.

More than anything, the pair of games provide Eastern with a moment to forget about last weekend, a moment to reignite expectations and playoff hopes, a moment to demonstrate that they can duplicate their efficiency on Williams Field from a season ago.

Eastern has settled in at 11th in the standings, above the 2-22 Morehead State Eagles by one game.

But much of the season still looms ahead.

The season is not by any stretch over for either of these two teams, with 18 games still to be played on Eastern’s schedule and 20 for Indiana State.

Schuette said she has not quite determined how the rotation will look in the doubleheader, indicating that it could be any one of her three pitchers.

Her focus, however, has been on the value of durability for her team.

“Toughness and really pushing for what you want, that you have to fight for what you want in life and you got to really go after it, not be afraid of what might happen, but really just go after it and focus on what you want to happen.”

Schuetee suggested that the 7-6 loss to Jacksonville State typifies the aggression she covets as a coach. Instead of simply putting the ball in play or reacting to the whims of the Gamecocks, Schuette felt she witnessed a team with a zeal for production at the plate.

“If you are in a boxing match, you got to throw a punch, you can’t just be hit all the time,” Schuette said.

Such an adage will be on her mind as they turn to Indiana State, whose last two games ended in a slaughter rule.

The Sycamores have been fraught with more shutout losses, including defeats of 2-0, 8-0 and 10-0 to Drake last weekend, than non-tournament victories on the road this season.

Senior Bailley Martin’s double to right centerfield in the fourth inning of the second game against the Bulldogs had been the only Sycamore hit all weekend, which guaranteed that nothing, not even Gabbi Schnaiter’s four shutout innings in game one, could halt a Drake bullpen that is reveling in the lowest ERA in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Ranked at 27th in the nation, Drake took advantage of the Sycamores’ bullpen

One season removed from their best season in four years, capturing the program’s fifth consecutive victory at the MVC tournament, the deficiencies of their bullpen have pervaded the performance of the entire team.

Sophomore Arielle Blakenship and junior Gabbi Schnaiter have been the most reliable at the mound, allowing, on average, three runs per seven innings.

The same cannot be said about the other three pitchers who fill out their rotation, as Abby Kruzel (8.71), Tessa Sims (6.58) and Ottersbach (6.00) have combined for a 1-7 record.

The nucleus of the Indiana State softball team remained intact, whereas the Panthers lost six seniors to graduation last spring.

Their hitting is not much better. Indiana State’s batting average has been an albatross, representative of the second lowest tally in the conference.

“I have only briefly looked at Indiana State,” Schuette said. “What I saw quickly is their first two kids do a good job of getting on base, and then they play scrappy and they fight from there.”

Tom O’Connor can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]