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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Top-seeded Eastern Illinois softball lost a 3-1 contest to #4-Murray State in a quarterfinal game during day three action of the Ohio Valley Conference Championship on Friday (May 10) afternoon.

The Panthers now drop to the loser's bracket where EIU must win five consecutive games without a loss to earn their first-ever OVC tournament title and earn the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Regional.

First up will be a 10 a.m. game versus #3-Eastern Kentucky to open Saturday play.  If they are able to win that contest, the Panthers play the winner of the #2-SIUE/#5-UTM loser's bracket game at 5:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Racers of Murray State will now face #6-Jacksonville State in a 3 p.m. winner's bracket semifinal contest at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The loss marked only the first defeat at home for the Panthers, while EIU fell to 36-13 overall as the Racers improved to 25-26 on the year and avenged a trio of regular-season defeats to Eastern earlier in the season.

The Panthers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second frame as junior Ashleigh Westover drilled an RBI shot up the middle to plate classmate Brooke Owens from second base.

Unfortunately that would be the only Eastern score as the Racers countered with a two-run homerun shot by Leslie Bridges in the top of the fourth, before adding a security run in the sixth frame.

OVC 'Pitcher of the Year' Hanna Mennenga would end up being tabbed for the loss behind five innings off work where she fanned four Racer batters but allowed three hits, one walk and two earned runs.

Classmate Stephanie Maday came in in relief in the sixth and struck out a pair of batters.

A pair of Murray State pitchers combined for five strikeouts of their own with Shelby Kosmecki earning the win off four-innings of work, while CheyAnne Gaskey secured her sixth save of the season in relief.

EIU's Owens led all Panthers with a 2-for-3 day at the plate, while senior Melise Brown joined Westover and junior Reynae Hutchinson with a hit in the loss.

Murray State, meanwhile, had a pair of players nail a double in addition to the home run.

Team-wise, the Racers finished with seven hits as compared to five for the Panthers, while both squads would end up stranding five baserunners.

Earlier in the day, #6-Jacksonville State upset #2-SIU Edwardsville in a nine-inning 2-0 shutout, while #5-UT Martin eliminated #8-Morehead State behind a 5-2 nightcap win.

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID