Softball drops 9-1 decision at Eastern Illinois

Thursday, March 27

Charleston, Ill.

3:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

15-15

Eastern Illinois

9-13

Southern Illinois

Eastern Illinois

03/27/2008 | 12:00:00 | Softball

Box Score

March 27, 2008

By Kyle Herm
www.SIUSalukis.com

CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Saluki softball team (15-15, 3-3 MVC) dropped a 9-1 decision in six innings to Eastern Illinois (9-13, 4-3 OVC) on Thursday afternoon at Williams Field in Charleston, Ill. SIU and EIU were scheduled for a doubleheader, but the second game was cancelled in the top of the third inning after the field became too wet from a constant drizzling rain.

Southern Illinois jumped out to quick lead in the top of the first inning behind timely hitting from veteran first baseman Lauren Haas. With senior outfielder Krystal Stein on second base, Haas extended her hit streak to five games with a hard-hit single up the middle to score Stein, and put the Salukis on top, 1-0.

The RBI-single broke the Salukis' 21-inning scoreless streak, after SIU failed to record a run in all three games at Wichita State last weekend.

After the first inning though, the Southern Illinois offense sputtered through the remainder of the game and could only scatter two more hits on a single by freshman Chelsea Held in the fourth, and another single in the fifth by sophomore second baseman Alicia Garza.

Freshman starter Nikki Waters held Eastern Illinois' offense at bay through the first two innings, but with two outs in the bottom of the third the Panthers catapulted into the lead on one swing of the bat by second baseman Sarah Coppert.

With runners on first and third, Coppert hit a line drive over the wall in left-centerfield for the go-ahead, and eventual game-winning three-run home run.

Southern Illinois stayed in the game after getting out of jams in both the fourth and fifth innings, but the Panthers broke open the two-run game with six runs on six hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to end the game.

With one out, starting pitcher Karyn Mackie hit a two-run double into the gap in left-center, and EIU added four more runs on back-to-back RBI-singles, and another two-run double by Coppert to make the final, 9-1.

Waters suffered the loss and fell to 8-8 on the year, while Mackie earned the win, and evened her season record at 5-5

The Salukis fell to 1-2 against Ohio Valley Conference teams this season, and will be back in action at home against Missouri Valley Conference rivals, and 2007 NCAA Tournament participant, Illinois State for a three-game series. The series will begin with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m., and wrap-up with a single game on Sunday at noon.