GAME ONE STATS  |  GAME TWO STATS

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The top two team in the Ohio Valley Conference split a softball doubleheader on Saturday, when league-leading Eastern Illinois earned a 4-3 win in the opener before second-place Jacksonville State took a 4-0 win in the nightcap.

The Panthers (35-10, 22-4 OVC) took advantage of missed opportunities by the Gamecocks (35-14, 20-6 OVC) in the first game, but couldn't capitalize themselves in the loss in the day's finale.

In the opener, missed opportunities did in the Gamecocks. JSU left 11 runners on base in the heartbreaking loss that saw a two-out single by Ashleigh Westover give the Panthers the walk-off win in the bottom of the seventh.

After a third-inning home run from Carly Willert gave EIU a 1-0 lead and a two-run single by Melise Brown stretched it to 3-0 in the sixth, JSU mounted a rally in the seventh.

After Krystal Ruth and Kelci Johnston were each hit to start the top half of the final inning, an Amanda Crow single loaded the bases to set up a fielding error by third baseman Kiley Holtz that allowed a run to score and the bases remain loaded. Kaycee Crow then came through with a two-run single that tied the score at three, but the junior was thrown out at second before The Panthers got out of the jam.

They would answer in the home half of the inning, when a leadoff walk to Reynae Hutchinson proved costly, as she scored the winning run on Westover's game winner.

Freshman Tiffany Harbin (21-8) suffered the loss after surrendering four runs, two earned, on six hits in 6.2 innings of work. She struck out seven and walked four in the loss. EIU's Amber May (19-4) was tagged with the loss after surrendering three runs on four hits in seven frames. She walked seven while recording six strikeouts.

Westover was the lone player with multiple hits in the game, thanks to a 2-for-3 showing. Kaycee Crow drove in a pair on her hit in a game that saw JSU scatter just four base hits. Johnston tripled in the game.

Jax State kept itself alive in the OVC race in the nightcap, one that saw EIU strand 14 batters in a 4-0 loss. Senior Ashley Eliasson (3-2) came on to guide JSU to the win in relief, holding the Panthers scoreless on four hits and three walks in 5.1 innings of work. The Vallejo, Calif., native struck out three batters in relief of sophomore Hilary Phillips, who struggled to find the strike zone in her short start. Phillips walked seven despite tossing a hitless 1.2 innings.

Stephanie Maday (13-5) was tagged with the loss after surrendering four runs, three earned, on six hits and four walks in 5.2 innings in the circle. May tossed the final 1.1 innings and held JSU to just one hit in the process.

Junior Abbey Stepp singled twice and drove in a run in two at bats, while Ruth drove in a pair on a sixth-inning single.

Johnston got JSU on the board in the third on a two-out single that plated Stepp, who drove in Amanda Crow in the fourth to put the Gamecocks up, 2-0. Ruth's two-out hit in the sixth stretched that advantage to 4-0 before Eliasson got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win.

The two teams will play the rubber match of the series at 12 p.m. on Sunday, a game that would bring JSU to within one game and gave it tiebreaker advantages with a win. An EIU win would clinch the regular season OVC title for the Panthers and give them the right to host the conference tournament in two weeks.