PEORIA, Ill. - The softball team entered the bottom of the seventh inning with a 2-1 lead, but Spalding tied the game at 2-2 and won in extra innings in the first game of the SLIAC weekend tourney on Thursdaay afternoon.

Greenville started the day with two runs in the top of the first inning.  Mia Boyd collected an infield single, and Sarah Salas launched her third home run in six games to pull GU ahead 2-0.

Starting pitcher Alison Klaus was touched for a unearned run in the third inning after the leadoff batter reached on an error and scored from second on a base hit.

Klaus worked out of a jam with runners on second and third and one out in the fifth inning when the Panthers gunned down a runner at the plate.

In the bottom of the seventh, a single and a double tied the score at 2-2.

After the Panthers were retired in order in the top of the eighth, a double and triple by Spalding gave the No. 1 seeded Golden Eagles the victory.

Boyd and Emma Funk each produced two hits for Greenville.

Klaus pitched the complete game, holding Spalding to three runs, two earned, on eight hits. She struck out three batters.

The Panthers (24-16) will play Fontbonne at 12 p.m. on Friday afternoon, and the winner will face the loser of Spalding and Webster in a second game on Friday afternoon.