Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T softball squad plays its final four road games of the regular season this weekend heading to Illinois Springfield and McKendree. The Lady Miners (13-30, 3-19 GLVC) take on the Prairie Stars on Saturday at 12 p.m. and the Bearcats at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
S&T looks to snap a four-game losing streak after getting swept at home this past weekend dropping doubleheaders to Maryville and Missouri-St. Louis. The Lady Miners struggled to generate offense this past weekend hitting just .169 scoring just seven runs in the four games.
Savannah Fedorchak (Oakville, Mo./Oakville) continues to lead the offense with a .348 batting average and a team-best 28 runs driven in.
Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) is tied for the team lead in home runs with
Cailey Baker (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield) and
Kelly Heckemeyer (St. Elizabeth, Mo./St. Elizabeth) and is second on the team with 23 RBIs.
In the circle,
Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) is coming off of one of the best games in her collegiate career after going toe-to-toe with UMSL's Hannah Perryman in the opener last Sunday. Viets pitched all 12 innings allowing the lone run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the 12
th on just three hits and struck out four.
Illinois Springfield is 16-24 on the year and 8-14 in conference play heading into its doubleheader against Lindenwood on Wednesday afternoon. The Prairie Stars had their six game winning streak on Sunday after getting swept at home by Indianapolis.
Brittany Miller leads the UIS offense with a .355 batting average while Amanda Gosbeth leads the team with seven home runs and 21 RBIs. Miller is second on the squad with six home runs and 18 runs driven in.
The Prairie Stars have struggled in the circle with an earned run average of 4.61 and are allowing opponents to hit .287 off of them. Jaycee Craver leads the staff with an 11-11 mark and a 4.09 ERA. She's tossed 16 complete games in her 24 appearances and has four shutouts on the season.
McKendree is 19-21, 13-9 GLVC under first year head coach Ashley Fleming. Fleming, a four-year standout player at the University of Missouri, is looking to guide the Bearcats to their first winning season since 2011. McKendree hosts Lincoln in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday before hosting Drury and Missouri S&T this weekend at Bearcat Field.
The Bearcats have eight players hitting over .300 led by Hanna Branch with a .382 average. Branch is also tied for the team lead in home runs with eight along with Rachel Hastings. Brooke Gajewski is hitting .365 on the season with seven home runs and a team best 38 RBIs.
Holly Magre leads the McKendree pitching staff with an 11-8 record and a 2.65 ERA in 25 appearances. She has struck out 130 batters in 121.1 innings pitched and opponents are hitting just .251 off of her. Magre has thrown 14 complete games with three shutouts and three saves.
