Boxscore

MONROE - An RBI single by Eastern Illinois' Katy Steele in the bottom of the 7th led the Panthers to an 8-7 victory over the Lady Techsters Friday night at the Louisiana-Monroe Mardi Gras Classic.

Steele's hit added to the 12 total by the Panthers.

Louisiana Tech (3-6) came out strong offensively by scoring three runs in the first inning and two in the second. However, that 5-0 lead was cut short when E. Illinois' hot bats and Techster errors came into play.

"Eastern Illinois did their part rallying against us in the fifth, but we have to get better defensively. Errors will kill us," said Techster head coach Sarah Dawson.

Freshman Krissi Oliver (1-3) picked up the hard luck loss after completing 6.0 innings, allowing 12 hits and eight unearned runs, while striking out five.

Offensively, Tech registered 10 hits, four from sophomore Regan Clark -- including a two-run homerun. Junior Christine Echols added two hits.

Dawson said, "Some lessons are better learned the hard way, and we as a coaching staff hope the focus is more on 'what did we learn'" whether than 'we have another loss'."

Weather permitting, the Techsters will return to action Saturday night at 6:15 against Grambling State and 8:30 against Stephen F. Austin in day two of the ULM Mardi Gras Classic.