After a rain delay in the first inning and a lightning delay in the sixth, Eastern Illinois softball held a 7-4 lead against Southeast Missouri going into the seventh.
SEMO started the last inning strong with two RBIs and only one out. Senior pitcher Bryanna French was in a jam, as there was a runner on second base.
“I mean, going in, just trusting my stuff and trusting my defense behind me is huge,” French said. “Since I’m not a huge strikeout pitcher, I really got to trust the defense behind me, and they have my back.”
Trust the defense she did, as two groundouts later ended the threat, and EIU escaped its first game of the Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championships with a 7-6 win on Thursday at OSF Healthcare Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria.
During the delays, OVC co-coach of the year Kristi Paulson said that the team tried to do what it took to not lose momentum.
“I think they tried to just keep the energy going in the dugout,” Paulson said. “They were having a party in there.”
Eastern (34-20), who is the one-seed in the tournament, only lost three games during conference play. However, two of the three losses came against SEMO.
French said that the losses fired up the team even more for the game today. Senior catcher Lexie Griffin agreed and added that they knew SEMO was a beatable team.
“Everyone’s beatable when we play our game, so we were just going out there, playing our game, and just not worrying about who was on the other side of the dugout,” Griffin said.
In the first inning, EIU started the scoring. Two RBI singles left two on for Griffin.
“That first at-bat, I had two strikes on me, so I was really just trying to get something hard on the ground to the right side or something deep in the outfield to score at least one run, and I ended up hitting it up the middle,” Griffin said.
She drove in both runners to complete a four-run first inning. She also hit a solo home run in the fifth inning.
Neither team scored again until the fourth inning. Senior pitcher Karlie McKenzie (11-8) allowed two runs off an RBI single to left field in the top of the inning.
In the bottom, freshman infielder Viola Smith hit a two-run home run for her fourth home run of the season to restore the four run lead at 6-2.
“I was just being patient. The zones are really tight and small, so just waiting for my pitch,” Smith said. “I had a 3-1 count, hitter’s count, and if I saw it in the zone, I was going to swing at it.”
SEMO (22-29) scored another two in the top of the fifth inning which resulted in McKenzie getting pulled and French coming in.
OVC player of the year Lizzie Stiverson added three walks and was the only Panther to draw a walk.
“They definitely were throwing around me, and I just kind of had that in the back of my mind that they’re not going to give me anything easy,” Stiverson said. “So, I was just really, my goal today was just to be disciplined and pass the bat for my team.”
Now, Eastern is in a similar position to last year. As the one-seed, Eastern will face Southern Illinois Edwardsville for a place in the OVC championship game. EIU won that game 5-4 in 10 innings to reach the championship round.
The Panthers also swept SIUE on the road near the start of OVC play.
“We’ll go back, and we’ll watch all of our at-bats against their pitchers. And any little thing that we can learn and prepare for, we will,” Paulson said. “I think our kids are ready, and they’re hungry. And we expect to hit the ball tomorrow.”
With the loss, SEMO plays again tonight against the University of Southern Indiana. The winner of that game will play Lindenwood, who upset two-seed UT Martin in an elimination game and sent the Skyhawks home, tomorrow at 11 a.m.
The winner will play the loser of EIU and SIUE in an elimination game at 4 p.m. with a trip to the championship round on the line.
Eastern’s game against SIUE is at 1:30 tomorrow in Peoria.
Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
