* During the month of July, www.EIUpanthers.com will take a look back at the Top 13 moments that shaped the 2009-10 school year. Stories will be posted each Monday, Wednesday and Friday of July * 

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Eastern Illinois softball ended the month of March with a bang as the Panthers raced out to the lead in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with a 7-0 start which included series wins over Jacksonville State, Tennessee Tech and Southeast Missouri taking place in an 11 day span.

The win streak started out innocently enough as EIU was wrapping up its spring break trip following set backs at Western Kentucky and Chattanooga. The OVC season opened with a series at defending OVC Champion Jacksonville State, a team that advanced to the Super Regional of the 2009 NCAA Softball Tournament.

EIU opened the conference season with a sweep of the Gamecocks picking up a complete game victory by Amber May in the opener while May closed out the seventh inning of game two to collect a save. Senior Denee' Menzione had a solo home run on the day to tie the school record with 23 home runs.

The Panthers extended their win streak to four straight with a mid-week doubleheader sweep of IUPUI before playing host to Tennessee Tech. The Panthers would sweep the three game series from the Golden Eagles with May tossing a 1-0 shutout and freshman Abby Wood providing some offensive pop with a two-run home run.

With a seven game win streak in-hand and a 5-0 start to the OVC season, EIU's bats would come alive during a doubleheader sweep of SEMO that pushed the win streak to nine games. The Panthers hit seven home runs in the sweep including six during the 10-2 night cap victory. In that game Menzione became the career home run leader at EIU eventually finishing her career with 27.