Eastern Illinois University announced on Apr. 17 that its softball team will host Tennessee Tech for a weekend Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) series at Williams Field in Charleston, Illinois. The games are scheduled for April 18 and 19, with the Panthers currently leading the OVC regular season at a record of 14-3.
This series is important as it features two teams ranked near the top of the conference standings. Eastern Illinois holds a season record of 23-20, while Tennessee Tech enters with a record of 15-24 overall and sits third in the OVC at 11-7.
The Panthers have several players contributing strong performances ahead of this matchup. Lizzie Stiverson leads Eastern Illinois with a .351 batting average and has recorded multi-hit games in eight out of her last ten contests. Mo Hance carries an active seven-game hitting streak, while Abbi Hatton recently drove in five runs during a game against Saint Louis and leads the team with eight multi-RBI games this season.
Alisha Frederick has reached base in nineteen consecutive games, which ranks as the longest current streak in the OVC and fourteenth nationally this year. Marybeth Dyson has also reached base over nine straight games. In conference play, Sophia Olman stands out by driving in twenty-three runs—leading all players for league-only contests—and posting a .362 average against OVC opponents.
On pitching duties, Bryanna French posted a win-loss record of one-and-one during last weekend’s series at Southeast Missouri and now holds an overall ERA of 4.25 for the season; she is eight-and-six overall and six-and-two within conference play. Rylan Gick picked up a midweek win over Saint Louis, supported by freshman Grace Lemke who earned her first collegiate save.
In recent history between these teams, Tennessee Tech leads the all-time series but Eastern Illinois has won each regular-season meeting since 2022—including sweeps from both previous years—though Tennessee Tech eliminated EIU from tournament contention back in 2022.
The Panthers are led by co-head coaches Kristi Paulson and Dan Paulson who guided EIU to thirty-four wins last year along with both regular season and tournament titles before competing at an NCAA Regional event.
