APSU Sports Information
Charleston, IL – Austin Peay State University’s softball team will head to Eastern Illinois this weekend for a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series. The OVC series will open, 1:00pm, Saturday, with a doubleheader at Williams Field and conclude, noon, Sunday, with a single game.
The Governors (6-26, 2-12 OVC) enter the series having won their last OVC contest, an 8-6 walk-off decision last Sunday by virtue of a Savanna Oliver two-run pinch-hit home run.
However, APSU dropped a 3-2 Tuesday non-conference game at Middle Tennessee.
Eastern Illinois (12-23, 6-6 OVC) comes into the weekend having won its last three conference games and is 5-0 overall during OVC play in games played at Williams Field.
Saturday’s first game will be the 61st meeting between the two OVC members, the seventh most played series in Austin Peay history, dating back to their first meeting on April 5th, 1997.
Overall, the Governors trail the Panthers 47-13 in the series, including a 2-22 mark in Charleston, IL – the last six losses in Charleston have all been one-run losses — with the last APSU road win in the series coming back on April, 24th, 2010 in a 5-3, eight-inning decision.
Offensively, Austin Peay is led by a pair of first-year players. Redshirt freshman Kacy Acree and true freshman Danielle Liermann are putting up some of the best numbers in school history for newcomers. Acree, APSU’s right fielder who missed last season after knee surgery, leads the team with a .388 batting average, including 10 doubles, two triples and four home runs. She also leads the team in runs scored with 25. Liermann, meanwhile, is hitting at a .363 clip from the third-base position, with nine doubles, a triple and a team-best five home runs and 29 RBIs.
Liermann’s RBI total is am APSU freshman single-season record, breaking the old mark of 27 set during by Daniella Hooper and Ashley Taylor in 2007.
In the circle, junior Autumn Hanners leads the Govs pitching staff with a 3-11 win-loss mark, with a 4.03 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 73 innings of work this season.
Fellow juniors Allie Blackwood (2-0) and Christiana Gable (1-1) have the other wins for Austin Peay this season.
