Eastern Illinois University won the Ohio Valley Conference softball tournament championship on May 9, defeating Lindenwood 5-2 in the final game. The Panthers secured their second straight title after needing an if-necessary game for the second year in a row.
The victory means Eastern Illinois will await its NCAA Tournament placement, which will be announced Sunday night at 6 p.m. Central Time on ESPN2.
In the championship matchup, Rylan Gick started for EIU before Karlie McKenzie entered in relief and pitched four scoreless innings to close out the win. With this performance, McKenzie improved her record to 13-9 and was named OVC Tournament Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive year. She was joined by teammates Abbi Hatton, Sophia Olman, and Bryanna French on the All-Tournament team.
Lindenwood took an early lead with a run in the first inning from a Kylee Crowder RBI single. Eastern Illinois responded with two runs in the second inning, aided by one of five errors committed by Lindenwood and an RBI from Chloe Wamboldt. Crowder tied it up again in the third with her second RBI of the game.
The Panthers regained control in the fourth inning when Viola Smith’s infield RBI scored Mo Hance from third base. Wamboldt added another RBI later that inning, and Lizzie Stiverson drove in EIU’s final run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Hance led EIU hitters with multiple hits and two runs scored; Lexie Griffin also crossed home plate twice.
Ava Risum took the loss for Lindenwood as they finished their season at 32-24 while EIU improved to 36-21 overall.
Earlier Saturday, Lindenwood forced a deciding game by shutting out Eastern Illinois 5-0 behind strong hitting from Crowder and Danielle Franz’s two-run home run. In that contest, Karlie McKenzie took her ninth loss of the season for EIU.
