The ball looked like a routine pop up.

But it wasn’t.

Instead of settling into Lauren Brackett’s glove in left field, the ball hit by Bradley’s Elizabeth Wilson hit off the top of the fence and bounced over for a home run.

Wilson’s home run wasn’t a regular home run either.

It was a walk-off, two-run home run for Bradley in the second game of the Braves’ doubleheader against Eastern.

Wilson took a 1-2 riseball pitch from Eastern pitcher Kathleen Jacoby in the seventh inning to seal the win.

“We’re still not sure how it got out,” said Eastern head coach Kim Schuette.

Eastern lost both games of Thursday’s doubleheader 3-1, extending its losing streak to four games.

And for a team that last year capitalized on getting the timely break or bounce, Thursday’s games epitomized the exact opposite.

The Panthers (17-24) received a stellar pitching performance from junior Maegan Golloway in the first game.

The left-handed transfer from Kankakee Community College pitched six innings of one-hit ball, yet suffered the loss.

The only hit Golloway allowed came in the fifth inning, when Bradley first baseman Jessie Musgrove led off the inning with a solo home run to left-center field, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead.

The lead was short-lived, however, because Sandyn Short hit her sixth home run of the year to tie the game at 1 in the sixth inning.

Then the solid defense Eastern had shown all game against Bradley disappeared in the bottom half of the sixth.

Two Bradley runners reached via a walk and an error by Eastern shortstop Ashley Robison.

Then a throwing error by Short and a wild pitch by Golloway allowed the two runners to score and give the Braves their 3-1 lead. The lead would stand, as Bradley pitcher Ashley Birdsong struck out the side in the seventh. Birdsong struck out nine Panther hitters in the game.

“Maegan Golloway threw an outstanding game,” Schuette said. “She gave up one hit and lost somehow. We just did not put the ball in play at all. It’s really frustrating when you can’t put the ball in play. Then you can’t control anything.”

Golloway struck out six and said she had good control of her inside fastball all game.

“I couldn’t have asked for any more from the defense of the team,” Golloway said. “It just didn’t go our way. It’s hard to be frustrated when everybody out there on the field does so well defensively.”

The Panthers only managed three hits, two in the first inning and Short’s home run, in the first game.

In the second game, Bradley led 1-0 until the fifth inning, when pinch-runner Chelsy Iapala scored on a wild pitch. Iapala ran for junior first baseman Robyn Mackie, who doubled to lead off the inning.

Jacoby, despite suffering the loss in the second game, had her best outing in almost a month, striking out eight batters in 3 2/3 innings of relief.

The four-game losing streak is the longest of the year for Eastern.

“I think it’s frustrating all the way around because we know how much potential we have,” Golloway said. “When you put it together it’s natural talent times 100. We just can’t seem to find a way to win.”