SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miner softball team was held to just 10 hits as it was swept in a doubleheader by Bellarmine 8-0 in six innings and 5-1 on Saturday at Thompson Field in Springfield, Mo. The games were played in Springfield due to unplayable field conditions in Rolla.

The opener was scoreless through two innings but S&T (1-10, 0-6 GLVC) had the first good scoring chance of the game in the bottom of the second. Ashley Rausch (Washington, Iowa/Washington) led off the inning walking on four pitches and moved to second on Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette )'s single to left. Both runners would be left stranded as Bellarmine's (15-7, 5-1 GLVC) Ally Foster got a pair of strikeouts and a pop out to get out of the jam.

The Knights broke through in the top of the third. An error allowed Amy Feie to reach to start the inning. Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) then retired Kayla Padgett and Kelly Ely before allowing a two out single to Rachel Fox. Feie was held at third as Fox advanced to second on the throw in. Viets was one pitch away from getting out of the inning with no damage but surrendered a three run homer to center field on 3-2 pitch to Hannah Daunhower. The home run came on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.

Bellarmine added two more in the fourth getting solo home runs from Foster and Marlee Tevis to increase the lead to 5-0. The Knights added another in the fifth. They had runners at second and third with one out when Scarlett Powers singled to center field scoring Fox. Daunhower tried to score on the play as well but was cut down at the plate on a perfect throw from Shelby Michaelis (Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf).

The Knights added two more in the sixth getting RBI singles from Ely and Fox to make it 8-0. S&T got a lead-off single in the bottom half of the inning but couldn't drive it in ending the game by run rule.

The top five in Bellarmine's order went 8-14 in the game with seven runs batted in, four runs scored and two home runs. Foster tossed a complete game three-hit shutout with eight strikeouts against two walks.

The Lady Miners were held to three hits in the opener with Michaelis, Andi Davis (Blue Springs, Mo./Archbishop O'Hara ) and Kyra Slemp (Roeland Park, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) registering a hit each. Viets took the loss allowing eight runs, five earned, on 10 hits while striking out six and walking two.

In the second game the Knights saw four of the first five batters reach to begin the game and took a 4-0 lead with one out in the first inning. Powers hit a two run single to left center to plate the first two runs and then Foster hit her second home run of the day to left center.

After those four runs, Becca Strope (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) came in and shut the Bellarmine attack down limiting them to an unearned run on just three hits over the final 6.2 innings. She struck out two and walked two in her outing. Bethany Rader (Memphis, Mo./Scotland County ) got the start allowing four runs on four hits in 0.1.

S&T's lone run came in the fifth inning. With two outs Michaelis singled up the middle and then Slemp reached on a fielding error by the second baseman to extend the inning. Viets singled to left to score Michaelis, but that would be all the Lady Miners got as Morgan Imhoff (Jamestown, Mo./Jamestown) grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

S&T finished the game with seven hits and was led by Michaelis and Slemp with two apiece while Davis, Viets and Baker had one apiece.

The Lady Miners are back in action on Sunday morning when they take on 17th ranked Southern Indiana beginning at 10 a.m. at Thompson Field in Springfield, Mo.