Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 (Columbia, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners traveled up north on Highway 63 to tangle with the Missouri Tigers on Wednesday evening in Columbia, Mo. The Lady Miners battled hard all evening and all though the scores were not indicative of it they gave the 10^th ranked Tigers a run for their money losing 10-2 in six innings and 6-0.

“The kids gave a great effort and we were actually ahead in the first game for awhile against the 10^th ranked team in Division I and that's a tall task,” head coach Don Kennedy said. “I thought the kids responded well. The first game obviously the score wasn't indicative of our effort as they got to us in the last couple of innings. In the second game we took them a full seven which was great.

“I felt like this was a great opportunity for our program because very rarely does a Division II team get to play a Division I team, especially of this caliber, in the spring season.”

S&T (14-23) scored the game's first two runs in the second inning on four hits. Coley Naughton (Alton, Ill./Alton) scored on a groundout off the bat of Katie Smith (Shawnee, Kan./Shawnee Mission Northwest) then Krista Porterfield (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) rifled one back to the pitcher bringing home Ashley Wallingford (Kahoka, Mo./Clark County ). The Lady Miners had a chance to add to their lead in the fourth putting runners on the corner with two outs but couldn't get them in.

They would hold that lead until the bottom of the fourth when Missouri (38-5) tied the game with a pair of unearned runs before taking the lead in the fifth on a two-run homer to right field then added another run in the inning on a solo home run. The Tigers added five more in the fifth to reach the spread rule.

S&T finished the game with five hits getting one apiece from Kassi Deibert (Highland, Ill./Highland), Naughton, Wallingford, Becky Davis (Blue Springs, Mo./Archbishop O'Hara HS) and Porterfield.

The Lady Miners hit the ball hard all evening and weren't rewarded for it but had some great at bats against a couple of tough pitchers.

“They battled and when Kassi got that first hit of the ball game in the second inning the rest of the kids realized we can hit with these guys,” Kennedy said. “I did not feel like they overpowered us but they did do a great job of changing speeds, moved the ball around a lot and had great location.”

In the second game the Tigers scored three runs in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead then added two more in the fourth and a single tally in the sixth for all the runs.

S&T finished the second game with three hits getting one apiece from Emily Tucker (St. Louis, Mo./Cor Jesu Academy), Maggie Schroeder (Bonner Springs, Kan./Basehor-Linwood) and Deibert.

The Lady Miners return to action this weekend traveling to Springfield, Ill., to take on future GLVC foe Illinois-Springfield on Saturday afternoon beginning at 12 noon.