After a slow start to the season, EIU softball headed to Morehead, Kentucky, for the first series of Ohio Valley Conference play.
Eastern traveled to Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, and Florida for out of conference tournaments. The Panthers finished the road trips 5-16.
In Morehead, Eastern won all three games in the series to start conference play 3-0.
Junior catcher Sophia Olman said that the out-of-conference schedule was really difficult.
Eastern played four ranked teams, including two power four conference teams. Against Arizona State, EIU was able to take a 5-0 lead after three innings. Senior catcher Lexie Griffin started the scoring with a two-run home run in the second.
Eastern lost 9-5, but Olman said playing against the harder competition helps when OVC play arrives.
“It prepares us even better for the OVC because every other team is going to look a lot easier,” Olman said.
Even with 16 losses, Eastern played the most games out of conference. The Panthers tied with UT Martin for most non-conference games played at 21. Morehead State only played 14 games.
Olman said that having seven more games of experience can help in the first couple of weeks of OVC play.
Morehead State came into the weekend with only one win; Olman said Eastern did not take that for granted.
“Just knowing that we have to walk in and be ready for the challenge and it’s not just going to be a cakewalk either,” Olman said.
She said that focusing on the offense was a big point going into the weekend. EIU scored at least eight runs in all three games with 9-5, 10-2 and 8-4 wins.
Southern Illinois Edwardsville, Southern Indiana, and Southeast Missouri State all swept their first OVC opponents as well.
In two weeks, Eastern plays one of the teams that was voted above them in the OVC preseason poll: SIUE. Before the season, SIUE was a series that many of the players, including sophomore first baseman Abbi Hatton, highlighted.
The other team ranked above Eastern was SEMO.
“SIU[E] and SEMO are always two big ones, especially with SEMO being (voted) first,” Hatton said.
Eastern does not play SEMO until April 11; both of those series will be away.
Following the Morehead State series, six qualified hitters have a batting average north of .250.
Of those six, three are new players who transferred in before the season.
Olman, who shares playing time with Griffin, said that the new players have fit in well with the returners.
“They bring a really good energy to the team and it’s really fun to be around them,” Olman said. “All of them bring a lot of other knowledge that we haven’t had from different conferences.”
Griffin also leads the team in home runs and RBIs with four and 18 respectively.
On the pitching side, newcoming sophomore Rylan Gick and returning senior Bryanna French both have the most appearances and best ERA before the Morehead series.
Gick has a 5.29 ERA with 32vstrikeouts in 45 innings of work, while French has a 5.00 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 49 innings.
Preseason All-OVC team selection Karlie McKenzie has had a rough start to the year with an 8.73 ERA in 29 and two-thirds innings and has yet to get credit for a win this season with an 0-7 record.
Eastern comes home this weekend for its first home series of the year against Lindenwood. The first game is set for Saturday at 3 p.m.
Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
