Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Sports

Eastern senior shortstop Sarah Coppert receives a throw as a Southeast Missouri player slides into second base during the team's doubleheader against Southeast Missouri Thursday at Williams Field. (Erin Matheny/The Daily Eastern News)

The Eastern softball team is still looking for an answer to their struggles.

The Panthers have now lost seven games in a row after being swept in a doubleheader by Southeast Missouri Thursday at Williams Field.

The Panthers (24-21, 8-8 Ohio Valley Conference) lost 6-2 and 11-3 in six innings to fall to fifth place in the league, below Southeast Missouri (20-19, 9-8) and Tennessee Martin (29-19, 9-8).

"We're starting to lose our heart," said Eastern assistant coach Jason Dorey. "It's in there somewhere. I know it's in there. They're losing their drives that's in there to win every inning."

The Panthers left 16 runners on base combined in both games.

Eastern had a chance in the bottom of the seventh of the first game, when they plated one run to cut the lead to 6-2, but the Panthers left the bases loaded.

"They kept fighting and hanging around," said Southeast Missouri head coach Lana Richmond. "I give to them a lot of credit of hanging around and not laying down there."

The Panthers' three runs in the second game were the most they have scored in their last six games.

"It's frustrating. That what's usually gotten us pretty far is our offense," said Eastern junior second baseman Megan Nelson. "(It's) done really well. If we can fix that offense, everything will take care of itself."

Southeast Missouri's offense was apparent in the second game.

Seven runs came off a home run, including a three-run home run from SEMO junior catcher Alex Ramirez in the fourth inning. SEMO junior left fielder Jennifer Vasquez added a grand slam in the sixth inning,

SEMO's hitters combined for 20 hits in the doubleheader and in the first game, left 10 on base.

"The key to our hitting was that we were very patient," Richmond said. "We're always known as a free-swinging team. We wanted to become more disciplined."

Richmond said they tried to lay off Eastern sophomore Amber May's rise ball.

It worked, as May (17-13) gave up 11 hits in the first game. She walked four and struck out four in a complete game appearance.

Eastern senior pitcher Kathleen Jacoby (6-8) went 5 1/3 in the second game, giving up nine runs on eight hits. She walked seven and struck out one.

The Panthers play league-leading Jacksonville State this weekend at Williams Field. The doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. Saturday and the third game will be at 1 p.m. Sunday.

"(Today's) practice is getting back to the little things," Nelson said. "We still have a lot of work to do."

After this weekend's three-game series against JSU, the Panthers have four more OVC games left. Eastern has made the OVC Tournament two of the past three seasons.

"We've had ups and downs," Dorey said. "We still find our way into the OVC Tournament."


Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or at kjmurphy@eiu.edu.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools

The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.

Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.

Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.

If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.