CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Lindenwood Softball team (11-12, 2-2- OVC) fell in 14 innings on Friday night to Eastern Illinois by a final score of 12-11. The 14 innings marked the longest game that the Lions have ever played at the Division I level, and ended the contest with 16 hits which also tied the most hits recorded in a single game in the Division I Era.
Lindenwood scored the first two runs of the game after
Karter Skillman doubled down the left field line to score
Kylee Crowder in the top of the second and was followed by a
Tori Hatton RBI single to left field in the top of the third inning that brought in
Madisen Noll to make it a 2-0 game. EIU got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double to right center to cut the deficit to 2-1 after four innings of play, but the Lions responded by scoring two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take a 6-1 lead late in the contest. Hatton collected her second RBI of the game in the top of the fifth to bring home
Teryn Brown, and
Emily Geary followed Hatton's hit with a SAC fly to score Noll to extend the Lions lead to three.
Anna Sanders put Lindenwood up by five in the top of the sixth by a score of 6-1 on a two run single up the middle, but Easterm Illinois put up two runs in the bottom of the sixth and tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and runners on the corners to send the game to extra innings on a three run home run.
Freshman Pitcher
Ava Risum entered the game for the Lions with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, and escaped a bases loaded jam to send the game to a ninth inning. Over the next three innings of work, Risum allowed just one hit and struck out two batters to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard as the game headed to the 12th inning with the score still even at six. In the top of the 12th,
Dallis Darnell picked up two huge RBI's on a single up the middle to give the Lions their first lead of the game since the bottom of the seventh inning by a score of 8-6, but EIU responded once again by scoring two in the bottom of the 12th to send the game to the 13th inning.
Similar to the previous inning, Lindenwood put up three runs in the top of the13th on a three run home run to left field by
Jolie McMinn to retake the lead at 11-8. However,the Panthers would claw their way back into the game once more by scoring three runs of their own in the bottom of the 13th inning to extend the game even further. The 14th inning was the final inning after the Lions couldn't score for the third extra inning in a row and the Panthers singled through the right side with one out and a runner on second in the bottom of the 14th to walk it off.
Lindenwood will now return to action for their final two games of the series tomorrow afternoon beginning at 2 PM CT.
