It didn’t take senior Sandy Short until mid-April this season to hit her first home run.

In fact, Short, Eastern’s all-time leading home run hitter, hit three home runs this weekend and helped lead Eastern (3-2) at the Central Arkansas Tournament.

The three home runs surpassed Short’s total of two home runs last year.

Short homered in the Panthers’ opening game of the tournament, a 4-3 win against Central Arkansas.

“Sandy was hitting the ball hard in gaps and over the fence,” said Eastern head coach Kim Schuette. “Sandy and Robyn Mackie both had awesome weekends.”

Eastern rallied after trailing 3-1, and scored three runs in the sixth inning to pick up the win. The Panthers’ winning run came because of a Central Arkansas error.

Sophomore Kathleen Jacoby picked up the win in the opener.

Eastern routed Alabama A&M 18-1 in five innings, before losing 6-0 to Creighton in Saturday’s final game.

Against Alabama A&M, the Panthers scored 16 runs in the final two innings to secure the win. Short homered in the fourth inning to start the seven-run inning, and Mackie followed Short’s home run with one of her own.

Mackie finished the weekend with a .500 average, a home run and six RBIs.

Sunday didn’t start out well for Eastern.

The Panthers blew a 6-2 lead and Central Arkansas scored seven runs in the sixth inning to win 9-7.

“Softball’s a game of momentum and they got going and we just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Schuette said.

The loss knocked Eastern out of a rematch with Creighton for the championship, but the Panthers knocked off Alabama A&M 12-2 in the consolation final.

Schuette said she was pleased with the team’s opening tournament, especially with Eastern only committing four errors in five games.

“We’d been outside once before this weekend,” Schuette said. “We went out on the football field and it was about 38 degrees that day.”