EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball returns home to USI Softball Field for a battle of the top two teams in the Ohio Valley Conference standings when the Screaming Eagles host Eastern Illinois University Sunday and Monday. First pitch Sunday is 2 p.m. and Monday's doubleheader is scheduled for a Noon start.
 
While USI Softball welcomes back its alumni for the series, the Screaming Eagles will play with heavy hearts. USI will be honoring USI Softball alumna and former catcher Courtney Schoolcraft, who passed away on April 3 after a fight with cancer. Schoolcraft graduated in 2022 but battled clear cell sarcoma since 2019 when she played for the Screaming Eagles. Southern Indiana will be sporting the color yellow to honor Schoolcraft, help raise cancer awareness, and carry on Schoolcraft's courageous spirit. Fans and spectators are also encourage to wear yellow.
 
Attending USI Softball alumni receive free admission and will be recognized before Sunday's first pitch. Plus, returning alumni can stop by the Alumni Engagement and Volunteer USI table at USI Softball Field to receive a gift bag and enter to win a prize.
 
Heading into the three-game set, Southern Indiana is 16-14 overall and 10-5 in the OVC, which is good for second and one game back of Eastern Illinois. The Panthers enter the series at 25-12 overall and 11-4 in conference play. USI has won seven of its last 10 games and four consecutive OVC series. USI and Eastern Illinois have each lost only one series so far in conference play. The Panthers are the reigning OVC Tournament champions from 2023.
 
Last weekend, Southern Indiana won two of three on the road at the University of Tennessee at Martin. USI bookended the series with wins while UT Martin grabbed the middle game. In the series, USI hit .244 at the plate. Senior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) led the team with a .500 batting average while recording four RBIs. Senior catcher Sammie Kihega (Greenfield, Indiana) had a grand slam and five RBIs in the series.
 
Kihega's grand slam was part of a five-run first inning for USI in the middle game of the series. It was her first career grand slam. Since 2000, USI has hit 27 grand slams prior to Kihega's blast at UT Martin. The previous grand slam was hit by former infielder Jordan Rager in March 2022 against Truman State University.
 
Earlier in the week, junior pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) earned OVC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season following her performance in the UT Martin series. Newman went 2-0, tossing a shutout in the series opener and not allowing a single earned run in two complete-game starts. The junior struck out 31 total batters – 17 in the series opener and 14 in the series finale – across 14 innings of work and posted a WHIP of 0.43.
 
After last weekend, Fair jumped into sole possession of the team lead for batting average, hitting .345 this season. Fair also paces the squad with 19 RBIs. Three other Screaming Eagles are hitting above .300, including Kihega, who tops the team with three home runs and is second with 18 RBIs.
 
Newman has helped lead USI to the best opposing batting average in the OVC (.243) and the fewest hits (187), runs (112), and earned runs allowed (88) in the conference. The junior is 14-5 with a 1.79 ERA. The right-hander is top three in the OVC in wins and ERA while leading the conference with 166 strikeouts and 133 innings pitched. Newman's strikeout and innings totals would rank top five in the nation, but USI does not qualify officially for NCAA statistical rankings as a reclassifying program. Newman enters the series against EIU four strikeouts away from 500 in her career, as Newman already sits top five in USI history in strikeouts.
 
Eastern Illinois is 6-4 in its last 10 games, which includes a series win last weekend against Tennessee State University. The Panthers dropped the series opener, 5-1, before claiming 9-7 and 4-3 victories. EIU's only series loss in conference play was the previous weekend, falling in a road series at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
 
This season, Eastern Illinois hitting .304 collectively, first in the OVC. The Panthers also lead the conference in runs scored (192), home runs (26) and RBI (173). Senior infielder Jadin Justman leads the team with a .394 average and ranks third in the OVC with a 1.129 OPS. Justman has eight doubles, six home runs and 24 RBI. Graduate utility Rachel Kaufman and sophomore infielder Kendall Grover each have a team-high and OVC-best seven home runs. Grover and Kaufman are 1-2 on the team with 32 and 31 RBIs, respectively. Kaufman is batting .352 and Grover is batting .346 this season.
 
In the pitching circle, EIU has been led by freshman hurler McKenzie Oslanzi, who is 16-3 with a 1.52 ERA. Oslanzi has 119 strikeouts and only 16 walks in 124 innings pitched and 17 starts. Oslanzi has also won OVC Pitcher of the Week multiple times this season. The Panthers also have the reigning OVC Pitcher of the Year in senior Olivia Price. Price is 6-7 with a 3.90 ERA in 66.1 innings and 14 starts.
 
Eastern Illinois leads the all-time series 5-2. In the last meeting, the Panthers edged the Screaming Eagles, 2-1, in the second round of last season's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. In the 2023 regular season, Southern Indiana took two of three on the road at Eastern Illinois, bouncing back from a series-opening loss to win the final two games in Charleston, Illinois. In three of the four matchups last season, the winning run total was two. The only exception was USI's 8-5 win in extra innings in the second game of the series at EIU.
 
All three games can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+ The Spin 95.7 FM will have radio coverage for games 1 and 3 of the series. Additional coverage links can be found on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.