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HISTORY & TRAD.
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Softball Host Eastern Illinois For Tuesday Afternoon Doubleheader Otahkians looking to climb above .500 mark in conference for first time this season.
April 8, 2002
EIU Game Notes and Statistics in PDF Format
Southeast (7-17, 4-5 OVC) vs. Eastern Illinois (10-15, 2-6 OVC) About Southeast: Trying to win three consecutive games for the first time this season, the Otahkians were nipped by the Austin Peay Lady Govs on Sunday, allowing a seventh inning homerun to finish with a 2-1 record against APSU in the weekend series. Southeast got strong pitching performances and timely hitting in the doubleheader sweep on Saturday. Freshman pitcher Kelly Birk was solid on the mound and had a two-RBI triple in game one that put Southeast ahead for good. Rachel Van Fleet was almost perfect in game two, allowing only one run while picking up her fourth victory of the season. On Sunday, however, APSU gave Southeast every chance to win the game as the Lady Govs committed three costly errors, but a homerun in the seventh lifted them to only their second win over Southeast in 34 games. Junior Brooke Nett had an outstanding week, hitting .529 (9-17) with a .824 slugging average, two doubles, a homerun, four RBI's and two stolen bases. She now leads the team with a .328 batting average after 24 team games. The Otahkians will also look for some revenge against Eastern Illinois, as the Panthers eliminated Southeast from last year's OVC Tournament, after Southeast had eliminated EIU the four previous seasons. Despite a great pitching performance in the game a year ago, Southeast couldn't muster a run and fell 1-0, which ended their season at 25-25. Overall for the 2001 season, EIU and Southeast split the season series 2-2. EIU Coach Lloydene Searle has 613 career victories, meaning the two coaches in Tuesday's doubleheader have a combined 1229 victories in their coaching careers that total 42 seasons. About the Oppostion: Eastern Illinois (10-15, 2-6) The Eastern Illinois Panthers have struggled since hitting OVC play. EIU has a 2-6 record in conference play and has dropped eight of their last nine games overall, including two games at Illinois. The Panthers win in that stretch was a 2-1, 12 inning victory over Tennessee-Martin last Saturday. EIU's other conference victory is over Morehead in their OVC opener. Offensively, junior utility player Jen Green is leading the way with a .333 average and .474 slugging percentage. Green leads the team in hits (26), runs (8) and is second in RBI's (12) while only striking out six times on the season. Green was an All-OVC Honorable Mention selection in 2001 and well on her way to an All-OVC selection this season. On the mound, junior Kristen Becker, an Honorable Mention selection last year and a member of the All-OVC Tournament team, is the ace of the Panther staff. Although she only has a 6-7 record, Becker posesses a 1.86 E.R.A. in 15 appearances and has 67 strikeouts in 94.0 innings. In four meeting last season, the Panthers split with the Otahkians. But EIU did have the last say, eliminating Southeast from the 2001 OVC Tournament, after Southeast had eliminated them the previous four tournaments. Overall, Southeast leads the all-time series 19-10. EIU coach Lloydene Searle is in her 22nd season, and like Southeast coach Lana Richmond, won her 600th game last season. She currently has 613 wins. EIU Statistical Leaders Batting: Jen Green (.333) Hits: Green (26) Runs: Kristin Lovering (12) 2B: Green (8) 3B: Amy Barr (2) HR: Jill Blackburn (3) RBI: Blackburn (15) SB: Dana Yocum (3) E.R.A.: Kristin Becker (1.86) IP: Becker (94.0) Wins: Becker (6) K's: Becker (67)
Southeast - Lana Richmond At SEMO (20 yrs.) - 616-345-2 Southeast Notes Coming Out of the Slump: After struggling a bit over the last two weeks, OF Courtney Eklund has been hot her last two games. In those games vs. Austin Peay, Eklund is 5-6 at the plate with three doubles and two RBI's. Her batting average is .833 and she is slugging 1.333 in those last two games. A Lot of Wins: Coach Lana Richmond and EIU Coach Lloydene Searle have combined for 1,229 total victories in 42 years of coaching. In the Midst of a Homestand: Southeast is in the middle of an eight-game homestand. Following those eight games, the Otahkians will only have four home games the rest of the season. Avoid the Fifth: Southeast has been outscored 24-9 in the fifth inning this season. The Otahkians only hold a scoring advantage over their opponents in two innings, the first (15-14) and the sixth (10-6). Pinch Hitting Success: When needing a lift off the bench, Southeast has had success with pinch hitters. In total, those hitters are a combined 12-36 (.333) off the bench. Jen Cobin and Christine Knobbe lead the way with two hits apiece as a pinch hitter. Almost There: Five Otahkians currently hitting over .300 but do not have enough at-bats to qualify for the team or league lead. Stacy DeClue (.667), Kelly Birk (.429), Michelle Lunsford (.400) Katie Cerneka (.341) and Shelley Conroy (.300) are all hitting above or at that mark. OVC Leaders: Individually, two Otahkians lead the league in an statistical category. Senior Dawn Piantino leads the OVC in walks per game (.46) while Courtney Eklund leads the league in doubles (.35). OVC Leaders Part II: Although Southeast leads in only one OVC category, Piantino ranks in the Top 10 in an amazing nine categories. In the Field: As a team, Southeast has a .966 team fielding percentage up from the .951 percentage the team had last season. Three Otahkians, 1B Amy Thompson, C Jennifer Cobin, and P Rachel Van Fleet, all have perfect 1.000 fielding percentages.
Homerun Firsts: Five Otahkians have hit their first career homeruns this season. Only three Otahks hit their first career homerun throughout the entire 2001 season. The players: With Two Outs: Junior OF Katie Cerneka is htting .429 (6-14) with two outs this season. Shutouts: Southeast's 12-0 loss to Missouri on Wednesday marked only the second time this season (SIU was the other) that the Otahkians had failed to score in a game. Bring on the Righties: Southeast started the season 1-13 (.077) versus lefties. Since then the Otahks have improved their mark to 22-72 (.306), a higher percentage than they are hitting against righties. Hitting Streaks: Brooke Nett leads Southeast with a six-game hitting streak, the longest on the team this season. Four other Otahks have current two-game streaks. Multiple Hits: Dawn Piantino currently leads Southeast with seven multiple-hit games this season. Brooke Nett and Katie Cerneka are close behind with six and five games apeice respectively. Alltogether, 12 Otahks have had multi-hit games this year. Consistent Starters: Only one Otahkian 1B Reagan Hamlin has started every game this season at the same position. Last season, Hamlin was the only team member to start in all 50 games. She did so at 1B, 3B or at pitcher. OVC Standings OVC Overall W L T Pct. W L T Pct. Eastern Kentucky 9 1 0 900 23 8 0 .742 Tennessee Tech 4 2 0 .667 20 17 0 .541 Tennessee-Martin 6 3 0 .667 17 20 0 .459 Morehead State 5 5 1 .455 9 21 1 .290 Southeast Missouri 4 5 0 .444 7 17 0 .292 Tennessee State 2 6 0 .250 9 20 0 .310 Eastern Illinois 2 6 0 .250 10 15 0 .286 Austin Peay 2 6 1 .222 13 24 1 .342 Otahkians Amongst OVC Leaders
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