Eastern’s bid for an upset over Big 10 member, the Washington Huskies, came up short on Thursday night at Williams Field in Charleston in a 3-2 loss that went to eight innings.

While this matchup was not a high scoring game, there was no shortage of defense. Washington made three diving catches, and Eastern’s sophomore outfielder Karson Davey saved a home run to get the second out of the third inning to prevent Washington from taking an early 2-0 lead.

After a scoreless first inning, Washington took the first lead of the game with sophomore infielder Riley Peschek hitting a single toward right field and allowing sophomore catcher Tia Durst to score in the second inning to make it 1-0.

The Panthers got their first double of the game by junior infielder Kendall Grover to open the fourth inning, and it left Eastern fans reenergized.

Senior infielder Briana Gonzalez was then walked to allow the Panthers to have two players on base. Sophomore infielder Alisha Frederick followed with a double to center field to allow Grover and Gonzalez to score, and the Panthers took a 2-1 lead.

Frederick said her RBI double “felt pretty good,” and she was “just excited to help out the team in any way that she could.”

The score remained 2-1 until the sixth inning when Washington sophomore outfielder Ava Carroll hit a sacrifice fly to allow fifth year outfielder Alycia Flores to tag up and tie the game 2-2.

The game remained tied at the end of the seventh inning, and it forced the Panthers into their third extra innings game of the season.

In the eighth inning, Flores hit a single to right field, and Eastern’s junior outfielder Marybeth Dyson was unable to complete a throw to first base.

This allowed Flores to advance to second and put Washington’s sophomore outfielder Jing Gardner on third base. This was the Panthers’ second error of the game.

Washington freshman centerfielder Sophi Mazzola was hit by a pitch and Washington loaded the bases. Next, Durst was walked to put Washington up 3-2.

A double play afterward gave the Panthers hope for the bottom of the eighth inning. However, the Panthers were not able to capitalize off a Grover single. The final out of the game came with Frederick grounding out.

The loss ends the Panthers’ two-game winning streak and brings their overall record to 15-15 this season.

On the bright side for the Panthers, it was a special night for junior infielder Mia Mazzola who got to play against her sister Sophi.

“We got to play two years of high school ball together, so back then like I was a senior, we thought that it was our last time ever playing on the same field,” Mia said, “So whenever we heard this fall that we were going to be able to play together on the same field, there was a lot of emotions.”

Sophi Mazzola said playing against her sister felt like a full circle moment.

“Just like a game of softball is an amazing sport, and it just goes to show it’s family above everything, and just so fun and so much love,” Sophi said.

Huskies coach Heather Tarr was impressed by both teams’ efforts, and she was happy the Mazzola sisters got to play against each other.

“It was just a cool opportunity for us to bring one of our players Sophi Mazzola, quote on quote home,” Tarr said. “I know this isn’t her hometown, but we designed this game so we could bring one of our players close to her family and she got to play against her sister tonight, so that was really cool.”

Tarr said Eastern was a “super competitive” team, and they knew what their strengths were before coming into the game

“We knew that coming in, just in terms of how they play the rest of their games; they can pitch well and they can hit pretty darn good and for them just to continue to make awesome plays and kind of keep themselves in the ballgame, it says a lot about themselves,” Tarr said.

Panthers co-head coach Dan Paulson was happy with his team’s effort despite the loss.

“As coaches we show up expecting to win,” Paulson said. “We don’t care who we’re playing. As a team, we have this ‘no name on the jersey’ mindset about who we’re playing, so it’s disappointing but we’re really proud. It’s a game of interest, there’s a few plays that went one way or the other, and it’s a different outcome, so we’re going to take this momentum into tomorrow and one pitch at a time [and] get two wins tomorrow.”

The Panthers will prepare to face Southeast Missouri State which will include a doubleheader on Friday and one game on Saturday. All the games will be at Williams Field, with the first game starting at 3 p.m.

Drew Farrell can be reached at 581-2812 or at atfarrell@eiu.edu.