The 9th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun softball team will take on the Eastern Illinois Panthers on Saturday, in their third game in the Louisiana Classic Tournament at Lamson Park, and once again on Sunday, in the tournament finale.

The Louisiana/Eastern Illinois match-up, the third game of the second day on the tournament schedule, is slated for Saturday afternoon at 3 pm, with the first game of the day slated for 10 am, while the Sunday game is scheduled for 2 o'clock.

Eastern Illinois, members of the Ohio Valley Conference, returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year’s squad, which finished with a record of 38-17, which was good enough for a third place finish in the OVC.

The Panthers are picked to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference this year, behind SIU-Edwardsille, Jacksonville St., Eastern Kentucky, Murray St. UT-Martin, and Tennessee Tech.

Last season, Eastern Illinois finished the season with a 38-17 record, including a 17-17 mark in OVC play.

Offensively, the Panthers hit a .273 in 2014 with 32 home runs and 195 runs batted in, along with 72 stolen bases.

Junior outfielder Jennette Isaac, a first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference honoree in 2014, led the way for Eastern Illinois last season, hitting a .325, along with 15 RBI’s and 11 stolen bases, while senior catcher Hannah Cole, a second team all-conference pick, who also returns this season, hit a .331 with 6 home runs and 35 RBI’s.

Last season, Eastern Illinois was out-hit by the opposition, .273/.217, and out-homered by foes, 32/24, while stealing 72 bases in 93 attempts.

In the circle, the Panthers will have a young staff, comprising of two sophomores and four freshmen, with the only pitcher with any experience being sophomore right-hander Hannah Rachor, who tossed only 17.1 innings as a freshman.

2015 may be a rebuilding year for Eastern Illinois, and they'll likely go as far as their young pitching carries them.

The Cajuns will play NC State on Friday at 3 o’clock, before playing twice more on Saturday, taking on Central Arkansas at 12:30 pm, and Eastern Illinois at 3 o’clock.

UL wraps-up play in the tournament on Sunday at 2 pm, when they face Eastern Illinois.

You can hear all the play-by-play action on Sports Radio ESPN 1420, and espn1420.com, beginning with the pre-game show 20 minutes prior to first-pitch for each game.

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