Eastern’s softball team was recognized for three out of four awards by the Ohio Valley Conference Tuesday night.
Sophomore Kendall Grover was recognized as the OVC Co-Player of the Year.
The infielder from Mooresville, Indiana ended the regular season with nine home runs and 45 RBIs, leading the OVC in both of those categories. Grover also finished the regular season with a .356 batting average, 19 stolen bases and 44 runs scored.
Grover was also last year’s OVC Freshman of the Year.
This year’s Freshman of the Year is another Panther… McKenzie Oslanzi.
The pitcher from Marseilles led the OVC in wins with 21. Oslanzi is the seventh player in program history to win 20 or more games in a single season.
Oslanzi ended the regular season with a 1.62 ERA as she stroked out 141 batters in 164 innings.
On the other side of the ball, Oslanzi also recorded a .270 batting average and 24 RBIs.
After coaching the team to a 38-15 regular season record and a 22-5 conference record to secure the OVC regular season championship, head coach Tara Archibald was recognized as the OVC Coach of the Year.
In her fifth season with the Panthers, Archibald has helped the Panthers win nine games where the opposing team did not score a run.
Archibald has also helped the Panthers go into the 2024 OVC Tournament on a six-game winning streak.
This season, Archibald coached five players that were recognized on the All-OVC First Team, All-OVC Second Team and/or the All-OVC Newcomer Team: Grover, Oslanzi, Rachel Kaufman, Jadin Justman and Karson Davey.
Along with Grover and Oslanzi, Kaufman and Justman were recognized as players on the All-OVC First Team.
Kaufman, the graduate student pitcher/designated player from Seymour, Indiana finished the regular season tied in first place in the OVC’s home run category with nine.
Three of Kaufman’s home runs were walk-off game winning home runs for the Panthers.
Justman, the senior infielder from Iron Ridge, Wisconsin set a new school record for sacrifice flies, hitting seven. Those seven sacrifice flies also ranked fifth in the NCAA this season.
Justman also ended the regular season with a .352 batting average, seven home runs and 30 RBIs.
Davey, the freshman infielder from Montgomery recorded a .308 batting average throughout the regular season, and she also scored a total of 22 runs.
Davey also ended the season with 14 RBIs and 14 stolen bases.
Along with Davey, Oslanzi and Justman were selected part of the All-OVC Newcomer Team.
The Panthers are the number one seed in the OVC Tournament, and their first game will begin Thursday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. in Peoria.
Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or zhflippin@eiu.edu.
