CHARLESTON, Ill. – Austin Peay State University's softball team was limited to just five hits in its Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader with Eastern Illinois, Saturday at Williams Field, with the Governors suffered 6-0 and 3-0 losses.

This was the second time this season the Govs (6-28, 2-14 OVC) suffered back-to-back shutouts in OVC action, with Southern Illinois Edwardsville also throwing back-to-back scoreless games against Austin Peay back on March 21.

Despite the lack of hits, the Govs had a chance to break out on top in Game 1, with Chandler Groves opening the game by reaching on an error and move to second base an out later on a single by Danielle Liermann.

But Eastern Illinois (14-23, 8-6 OVC) starter Jessica Wireman (10-16) struck out the next two Govs to end the scoring threat.

Unlike the Govs, the Panthers were able to take advantage of a first-inning error by Austin Peay to score two runs – both coming on a two-out single by April Markowski to take the early lead.

The score would remain that way until the bottom of the fifth inning, when the Panther would again take advantage of an APSU error to score two unearned runs to go up 4-0.

Austin Peay would threaten to score one final time, in the top of the sixth inning, with Rikki Arkansas opening the inning by drawing a walk, moving to second on a single by Kacy Acree and third base on a wild pitch.

But Wireman got the final two Govs hitters of the inning out on a strikeout and a ground ball to end the scoring chance.

EIU would add two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth for the 6-0 final margin.

Kendall Vedder would have the other Austin Peay hit in Game 1, while APSU starter Autumn Hanners (3-12) took the loss.

Game 2 would start out almost identically as the opening game of the day did, with Austin Peay getting a runner into scoring position via an error, but not scoring, with Courtney Brower getting stranded on third base.

And like the opening game, Eastern Illinois would take advantage to a first-inning error by Austin Peay to score three runs – two unearned – the only runs scored by either team in the night cap.

The rest of the game would be a pitcher's duel between EIU's Michelle Rogers (4-7) and APSU's Natalie Ayala (0-7), with Rogers only allowing three Govs to reach base after the first inning -- including a singles by Liermann in the fourth and Groves in the sixth – while Ayala only allowed three hits and seven runners over her last five innings of scoreless work.

The two teams will conclude their weekend-series on Sunday with a single game scheduled to begin at noon.

--AP--