Murray State leading OVC softball standings, Eastern slips to seventh
Eastern catcher Lindy Milkowski looks to the dugout and smiles during game two of a doubleheader against Purdue Fort Wayne April 6 at Williams Field. The Panthers won both of the games, 13-8 and 3-2.
April 21, 2022
With three weekend series and a few midweek doubleheaders remaining for each team, the OVC softball season is coming down to the wire.
Murray State is still holding on to the top spot in the standings with a conference record of 14-3, getting there with a four-game conference win streak. The Racers are one game up on 13-4 Belmont, which has won three in a row.
The longest active conference win streak in the OVC belongs to Tennessee-Martin, which has won its last five OVC games to climb to 10-4 in conference play and third place in the standings. Southeast Missouri, picked as the OVC’s top team in the preseason poll, has dropped its last two conference games and now sits in fourth place at 10-5.
Fifth-place Tennessee Tech now owns a 9-8 conference record after getting swept by Belmont last weekend in Nashville. Austin Peay has won its last two games to move into sixth with an 8-9 record against OVC opponents.
The bottom two slots for the OVC Softball Championship are held by the conference’s two Illinois teams, Eastern and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Both have lost six games in a row to find themselves on the verge of losing their postseason spots.
SIUE’s last three conference losses came to Morehead State, which climbed from last place to ninth and now sit just one game back of a postseason spot with a 4-12 conference record. Last-place Tennessee State is still very much alive with a 3-14 conference record, and would be in one right now if not for four-straight conference losses.
Murray State and Southeast Missouri will meet in Murray for a three-game series this weekend that has implications for the top half of the standings while Belmont has an easier task, at least on paper, with a home series against Morehead State. Eastern will have a chance to make up some ground at home, hosting Austin Peay for three games at Williams Field. Tennessee-Martin and SIUE will play in Edwardsville while Tennessee State will try to climb out of the cellar with a series at home against Tennessee Tech.
Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or ajtumino@eiu.edu.
