ATLANTA – The Eastern Kentucky University softball team (7-3) picks up two wins over Georgia State and Rhode Island in the latter half of the Bob Heck Classic to conclude the tournament with a 3-2 overall record on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Colonels' bats came alive in the final two games at Bob Heck Softball Complex for a 9-8 win over Georgia State on Saturday and a 10-3 win over Rhode Island on Sunday. 
 
EKU combined for 23 hits after dropping a 2-1 rubber match to Purdue Fort Wayne in game three.
 
Lou Bowers led EKU on Saturday and Sunday going 5-of-11 (.454) from the plate with two doubles and a homer against Rhode Island.
 
Freshman Lilly Davis hit her first collegiate homerun in EKU's win over URI.

Game Eight: Purdue Fort Wayne 2, EKU 1
Sophomore Pitcher Lauren Narzaez earned the starting nod after tossing 15 innings the day prior with five strikeouts. The Colonels and Mastadons went scoreless for the first two frames of Saturday morning's contest.
 
Sophomore Maggie Pertee got EKU's lone tally in the top of the third inning on a single to left field that advanced Jaelin Haynes to third, who scored off a field error from the PFW left fielder.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, PFW's Alanah Jones hit a solo home run to dead center to knot the game at one. Narvaez would hold the Mastadons scoreless for the following two innings, EKU obtained hits from Jasmine Miller and Davis in the fourth, couldn't scratch them across.
 
Purdue Fort Wayne would take the lead in the bottom of the sixth off a sac fly to left field, scoring the go-ahead run.
 
Two foul outs from EKU in the top of the seventh haulted the Colonels comeback effort and the score held at 2-1 in PFW's favor to start day two in Atlanta.
 
Game Nine: EKU 9, Georgia State 8
EKU woke the bats up in game two against Georgia State, scoring eight runs in the top of the first, forcing the Panthers to pull their started with a third of an inning under her belt. The Colonels earned their eight runs off hits from Bowers, Miller, Nikola Schwarzingerova, Madison Scott, Haynes, and a bases-loaded walk from Riley. Narvaez, who earned the start in game two, held GSU scoreless in the bottom half of the frame.
 
GSU held EKU scoreless in the following four innings and tallied six runs to the bottom of the fourth to narrow the gap to 8-6. 
 
A Scott bases-loaded walk would get EKU back on the board at 9-6 in the top of the fifth inning.
 
EKU would hold on in the final two innings despite a two-out triple from GSU that scored two to bring the Panthers within one run.
 
Narvaez (4-1) threw a complete game to earn her fourth win of the season.
 
Freshman Haynes led the Colonels going 3-of-5 from the plate.
 
Game 10: EKU 10, Rhode Island 3
EKU and Rhode Island squared off for the second time in the BHC to end the tournament, Rhody got on the board first with single up the middle, scoring Hannah Hernandez. EKU would respond in the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot from Bowers, her first homerun of the 2023 season to tie the game at one.
 
Davis, a freshman catcher from Louisville, Ky., notched her first collegiate homer in the bottom of the second to right field to give the Colonels the 2-1 lead.
 
URI would tie the contest for the second time in the top of the third off another single that scraped by third baseman Miller.
 
The third and fourth inning plate appearances were controlled by Bowers, who tallied two doubles in back-to-back innings for three of her four RBI's in Sunday's game.
 
Jeanay Riley would push EKU's lead to four runs in the bottom of the fifth, extended again by Scott and Pertee in the fifth and sixth innings for the 10-3 EKU win.
 
Riley earned the first win from the circle this season, throwing 4.1 innings with three strikeouts, only allowing one earned run.
 
Next Up
EKU returns to action next weekend in Wilmington, N.C. for the UNCW Tournament against Georgetown, UNCW, and App State.