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ROSEMONT, Ill. – On the second day of the Total Control Sports Invitational, the IUPUI softball team suffered a pair of losses to Eastern Illinois and Illinois.

In each of the two games, the Jaguars were the first team to put a run on the board, but the Panthers rallied off eight unanswered runs to win, 8-1, before the Illini battled back from an early deficit to earn a 5-3 victory. Despite the losses, head coach Amanda Rivera was proud her team's effort during the day.

"I was so proud of how we finished the day. We were fighting with every pitch, and that grittiness is what will win us ball games as we progress throughout the season," Rivera said.

Sarah Lawrence and Roni Patterson paced the offense on the day with Lawrence recording four hits in five official plate appearances, and Patterson driving in all four of the team's runs during the day.

In the opener against Eastern Illinois, the Jaguars got off to a quick start using a two-run double by Patterson to score Lawrence and get the Jags in front, 1-0.

However, IUPUI could not advance a runner past second for the remainder of the game, while EIU picked up where it left off a night earlier.

The Panthers scored two runs in their half of the first to go in front, 2-1, before tacking on another run in the third. Following a scoreless top half of the fourth, EIU put some insurance runs on the board scoring four more in the fourth and one in the fifth to boost its lead to 8-1 entering the sixth.

Unfortunately, the Jags were set down in order in the final two frames preserving the win for the Panthers.

IUPUI didn't have much time to mull over the loss to the Panthers and it immediately turned its focus to the Fighting Illini. Similar to the first game, a RBI hit in the first from Patterson scored Lawrence with two outs to give IUPUI the early lead, but a two-run rebuttal from Illinois in its half of the first gave the Illini the one-run cushion through one.

After a scoreless second, IUPUI regained the lead in the third scoring two runs on four hits. Morgan Schlobohm, Alyssa Neff, and Lawrence all singled to load the bases with one out, and Patterson came through again when she brought home Schlobohm and Neff on a RBI single to left to catapult the Jaguars in front, 3-2.

Illinois bounced back again in its half of the third with two runs on a RBI single, before scoring once more in the fifth to up its lead to 5-3.

In the sixth and the seventh, IUPUI managed to bring the tying run to the plate each inning, but it could not get another run across as it fell by a 5-3 score in Game 2.

The Jags close out the Total Control Sports Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 9, when they take on Loyola-Chicago at 12:30 p.m. ET.