PHOTO GALLERY
FRIDAY'S SCORES
#6 Eastern Illinois 8, #5 SIUE 0 (5)
#2 Austin Peay 1, #8 Morehead State 0 (10)
#3 Jacksonville State 7, #1 Eastern Kentucky 1
#2 Austin Peay 3, #6 Eastern Illinois 1
EASTERN ILLINOIS 8, SIUE 5
OXFORD, Ala. - Megan Burton was 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs and two RBI as Eastern Illinois softball cruised to an 8-0 win over SIUE in five innings. The Panthers advance in the OVC Tournament and will play tonight at 5:30 pm against No. 2 Austin Peay.
The Panthers scored eight runs on eight hits in game nine of the conference tournament with a big fifth inning offensively. EIU recorded six of their eight runs and hits to take an 8-0 lead.
Mady Poulter and Haley Mitchell were walked back-to-back for the Panthers. Poulter scored the first run of the inning with Burton's single up the middle. Morgan LaMore followed Burton with another single up the middle to fill the bases. Ashley Koziol walked Jennifer Ames, which brought Mitchell across home plate prompting a SIUE pitching change.
Corrina Rivas reentered the game for the Cougars with Maria DeVito up to bat. DeVito doubled to left center tallying two RBI. Kayla Bear closed the inning with a doubled to right center to bring in another two runs as the Panthers run ruled conference rival SIUE 8-0 in five innings of play.
Bear finished 2-for-4 at the plate, while LaMore was 1-for-1 and DeVito 1-for-2. Jessica Wireman pitched all five innings recording six strikeouts.
AUSTIN PEAY 1, MOREHEAD STATE 0 (10)
OXFORD, Ala. - Austin Peay broke a 0-0 deadlock in the top of the 10th inning by taking advantage of a Morehead State (28-23) throwing error to defeat the Eagles with the game's only run.
Junior Natalie Schilling opened the top of the 10th with a single up the middle--just the Govs third hit of the contest (Morgan Rackel and Carly Mattson had the other two APSU hits)--followed by junior Kacy Acree laying down a sacrifice bunt to move Schilling into scoring position. But Morehead State pitcher Chelsea McManaway's throw to first base was wild – going down into the right field corner – allowing Schilling to score all the away from first with what turned out to be the game-winning run.
Rackel, who came into the game in relief in the bottom of the seventh inning, struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th inning to seal the victory for the Govs.
Junior Kelly Mardones started in the circle for the Govs, throwing 6.1 shutout innings, giving up just five hits
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JACKSONVILLE STATE 7, EASTERN KENTUCKY 1
OXFORD, Ala. - Jacksonville State powered its way back into the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference for the third-straight year, thanks to a convincing 7-1 win over top-seeded Eastern Kentucky on Friday at Choccolocco Park.
The No. 3 seed Gamecocks (32-23) went hitless for the first three innings against Colonels (39-17) ace Mollie Paulick, but their bats came to life in the fourth. Taylor Beshears started the rout with her third home run in three games in the tournament, a two-run blast in the fourth that gave JSU starter Faith Sims all she needed.
One day after shutting out Austin Peay, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Sims (21-9) kept the top seed off of the board until the sixth and held the Colonels to just a run on six hits in her second complete game in as many days. Her gem lifted the Gamecocks into Saturday's 12:30 p.m. title game needing only one win to claim their third tournament title in a row.
Beshears was 2-for-3 with four RBI in the game, improving on an OVC Tournament performance that has seen her go 6-for-11 with three home runs and seven RBI.
Emily Woodruff and Anna Chisolm also had two hits in the game, while Woodruff scored twice and robbed EKU's Hannah Clark of a home run in the seventh inning.
Beshears got the Gamecocks on the board first in a fashion that has become familiar so far in the OVC Tournament. Right after Chisolm broke up Paulick's no-hit bid with a one-out infield single in the fourth, Beshears broke up the shutout with her third home run in as many games in the tournament.
She fouled two pitches off before launching Paulick's 0-2 pitch over the wall in left to put the Gamecocks up 2-0. With the blast, the transfer from Wallace State Community College has now homered in every game so far in the tournament.
Beshears was responsible for the next two runs for JSU in her fifth-inning at bat. With two outs and the bases loaded, her single to shortstop scored Jada Terry and Emily Woodruff followed with heads up baserunning to make it a 4-0 game.
Alexus Jimmerson drove the next pitch into right center, scoring Caitlyn Sapp from second and stretching JSU's lead to 5-0.
JSU kept adding to the lead in the sixth, getting back-to-back RBI singles from Caitlyn Sapp and Chisolm that added two insurance runs and gave Sims a 7-0 lead to work with.
The Colonels were able to get on the board against Sims in the sixth, when they generated a two-out run after Sims retired the first two batters of the inning with ease. Zoe Mihalicz doubled and scored on a bloop single from Brooke Harrison that cut JSU's lead to 7-1 and snapped a streak of 13.0 scoreless innings from Sims.
The Colonels threatened in the seventh, when Hannah Clark lifted one over the center field wall, but Woodruff reached over the wall and brought it back to preserve the 7-1 lead.
Paulick (20-6) suffered the loss after surrendering five runs on five hits in 4 and 2/3 innings of work. Murphy McRoberts allowed two runs on four hits in one inning, while Peyton Hutchens recorded the final four outs for EKU.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
OXFORD, Ala. - Austin Peay jumped on Eastern Illinois (36-20) for two runs in the first inning, with Schilling opening things up with a one-out single, and, after stealing second base, scored on a double by Danielle Liermann.
The Govs would score its other run of the inning two batters later, with Liermann scoring on a Mattson double.
That would be all the runs that Rackel (22-6) would need as she held the Panthers to just one run, while scattering nine hits in the complete-game victory. She would also walked two and fanned four.
Austin Peay's final run came in the sixth inning on Mattson's 12th home run of the year.
EIU's Jessica Wireman retired seven batters after taking over pitching duties in the first inning.