Hailee Hanna and Hayley Pieper are two freshmen who have emerged as leaders this season for the Eastern softball team.

Both Hanna and Pieper have been key players, but it has been their bats that have helped the Panthers (19-12) this season.

Hanna, the primary catcher, has started in 21 of 23 games. She currently is batting .328 with one home run and 10 RBIs. Hanna’s lone home run came this past weekend against Eastern Kentucky.

While Hanna’s statistics have been strong this season, Eastern head coach Kim Schuette believes it is the other intangibles that make Hanna a strong player.

“Throwing out base runners is obviously her greatest skill,” Schuette said. “It has been a surprise to us that she has been able to hit so effectively out of the sixth and seventh spot in the lineup.”

Hanna admitted she was nervous heading into the season, especially coming all the way from California.

“My main goal before the season was to keep an open mind and take in and learn as much as I can,” Hanna said.

Pieper had been in a slump most of the season, but had a strong arm.

While she only bats .170, Pieper went 2-for-4 with a grand slam and four RBIs last weekend.

Schuette said through constant practice with assistant coach Jason Dorey, Pieper has been able to continually improve her hitting.

“She has started to work on the movement in her swing and improving her batting stance,” Schuette said.

Pieper, who starts in left field and hits in the ninth spot in the batting order, was pleased with her grand slam.

“It was very exciting. It is definitely going to be my No. 1 sports moment until something better comes along,” Pieper said.

Pieper was unable to play softball during the fall season because of a wrist surgery she had during the summer.

“Working with coach Dorey has taught me to widen my batting stance, so I can get more power when I step forward,” Pieper said. “I feel it’s starting to come together and obviously it’s been helping me out.”

Pieper’s goal heading into the spring season was to be as healthy and strong as possible.

Schuette noticed the continued growth of each player.

“Both players have come in and contributed as freshmen, which says a lot about them,” Schuette said. “Both of them are becoming more and more important teammates for the rest of the team. As a freshman you don’t want to come in and step on anybody’s toe, and you worry about if you’re going to get to play. After they stopped worrying about those types of things, they really started to improve.”

Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or at jnschneider@eiu.edu.