Box Scores

Eastern softball head coach Kim Schuette stressed before this weekend’s series against Austin Peay about getting out to an early lead.

The Panthers followed through on Schuette’s plans Sunday against the Lady Governors and jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

The Panthers won 4-0 on Sunday behind a one-hit shutout pitching performance from sophomore Kathleen Jacoby.

But Eastern’s offense didn’t come through in Saturday’s doubleheader, managing only four hits in 14 innings of play.

As a result, Eastern lost the first game 3-1 and lost the second game 6-0.

The Panthers (21-28, 8-13 Ohio Valley Conference) now face the uphill task of qualifying for the six-team OVC Tournament.

Eastern is in eighth place with four conference games left and will need help from other conference schools if it wants to make the conference tournament.

“Nobody wants to be in that situation where you have to watch what other people do,” Schuette said. “But that doesn’t mean our season’s over. We’ll see what happens.”

If the Panthers lose two of their four remaining OVC games, they will not qualify for the tournament.

But if Eastern can manage to win at Southeast Missouri on Wednesday and then sweep Jacksonville State in a three-game series next weekend at Williams Field, the Panthers have a chance.

The Panthers will then need help from conference foes Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee State, in particular.

EKU plays at Austin Peay in a three-game series next weekend, while TSU hosts Tennessee-Martin in a three-game series next weekend also.

An ideal situation for EIU, with the Panthers winning all four OVC games next week, is for EKU to sweep Austin Peay and for TSU to do the same to UTM.

If that situation happens, Eastern will climb to the sixth spot with a 12-13 OVC record, while UTM will fall to seventh place at 11-15 and Austin Peay will be in eighth place with an 11-16 conference record.

Jacoby said the Panthers can use help where they are in the standings as motivation for the final week of the season.

“A lot of people are going to count us out now,” she said. “I just think that we’re underdogs now. It just gives us more incentive to win.”

Jacoby made sure Eastern picked up Sunday’s win, with her dominating shutout performance. She allowed her lone hit in the second inning, a one-out single. But most importantly to Schuette, she limited her walks. Jacoby walked a batter in the first inning, her only walk of the game.

In her three previous appearances, she had walked 14 batters.

Schuette said Jacoby relied on her screwball and riseball to keep Austin Peay batters off-balance. But Jacoby credited her curveball – which she said has been pretty absent for most of the year – as well as her defense for her success Sunday.

Jacoby’s performance was needed after Austin Peay pitcher Natasha Anderson limited Eastern in the first game Saturday. Anderson had a perfect game until the top of the seventh inning, when Eastern’s Lauren Brackett beat out an infield hit.

“(Saturday) we stunk,” Schuette said. “That’s pretty much all there is to it. Sometimes, things just don’t go your way. (Saturday), things just didn’t go our way.”

Senior cathcer Sandyn Short makes a play during Eastern’s game against Morehead State on April 21. (John Bailey/The Daily Eastern News)

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