Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Softball nine dropped both ends of a doubleheader at Missouri Southern 5-2 and 6-1 on Saturday afternoon at Lea Kungle Field in Joplin, Mo.
Andi Davis (Blue Springs, Mo./Archbishop O'Hara ),
Cailey Baker (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) and
Kyra Slemp (Roeland Park, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) each had three hits in the doubleheader.
Game 1 – Missouri Southern 5 Lady Miners 2Missouri Southern (7-6) struck first in the bottom of the second. With one out Angel Badalamenti and Sydney Fry hit back-to-back singles then both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Badalamenti scored on Sarah Williams's sacrifice fly to right field.
S&T (0-8) tied the game in the fourth inning, with one out
Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) doubled to center and advanced to third on a wild pitch with two outs.
Kelly Heckemeyer (St. Elizabeth, Mo./St. Elizabeth) worked a walk and on ball four the ball got away from the catcher allowing Franceschini to score the tying run.
The Lady Miners took the lead in the fifth inning as
Kyra Slemp (Roeland Park, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) led off with a single and went to second on a sacrifice by
Victoria Culbertson (Nevada, Mo./Nevada).
Lori Badalamenti (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland ) then singled to left scoring Slemp from second and advanced to second on the throw home.
Andi Davis (Blue Springs, Mo./Archbishop O'Hara ) then singled to shortstop as Badalamenti went to third and Davis advanced to second on the throw. That was all S&T got though as
Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette ) lined out to short and Franceschini popped up to second to end the inning.
The Lions answered with three runs in the home half of the fifth. With one out and runners on the corner Williams and Kylie Westbrooks executed a double steal to tie the game. Alana Hester then drove in Westbrooks with a double to left center to put MSSU back on top. With two outs Hester advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a throwing error by Baker.
The Lions added another run in the sixth with a two out rally. Fry singled to left and scored Williams double to left center.
S&T outhit Missouri Southern 7-6 in the contest. Davis and Baker had two hits apiece.
Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) took the loss allowing five runs, four earned, with four strikeouts and two walks in six innings pitched.
Game 2 – Missouri Southern 6 Lady Miners 1In the second game of the twinbill on Saturday the Lions once again struck first with a run in the first inning. Hester led off the game with a single to center and stole second. She came around to score on Abi Corbett's single single to Baker. Southern tacked on a another run in the third as A. Badalamenti hit a two out single up the middle scoring Ashley Caldarella from second.
S&T was held hitless through the first three innings before breaking through with two hits in the fourth and had a two out rally going with runners on the corner but Slemp was thrown out at second trying to steal to end the inning.
The Lions added another run in the fourth on a single by Corbett but left two runners stranded.
The Lady Miners got on the board in the fifth on a RBI single from Weiss scoring
Rachel Aiardo (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North), running for Heckemeyer, with two outs.
Missouri Southern added three more in the bottom of the fifth with Dru Coleman driving in two of the runs with a single back up the middle.
S&T was outhit in game two 16-8 with Slemp registering two of them. Davis, Weiss, Baker, Heckemeyer, L. Badalamenti and Culbertson had one each.
Courtney Jackson (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) suffered the loss allowing three runs, all earned, on 11 hits in 3.2 innings.
The Lady Miners return to action next Friday at the Lewis Dome Invitational in Rosemont, Ill. They'll take on Grand Valley State at 3:30 p.m. and then will face Wayne State (Mich.) at 8 p.m.
