Rolla, Mo. – Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) and Courtney Jackson (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) combined to toss a three hit shutout in Missouri S&T's 5-0 win against the Lindenwood Lions in its home opener on Friday afternoon at the S&T Softball Field. The Lions (9-9) bounced back to take the nightcap 4-3 in eight innings.

Game 1 – Missouri S&T 5 Lindenwood 0
English held the Lindenwood bats silent for most of the afternoon recording 10 ground ball outs in the contest and retired six of the first seven hitters she faced before allowing a lead-off single in the third. She didn't allow another hit until the fifth inning and had to work out of her only jam of the game as the Lions put runners on second and third with one out but wouldn't score as English struck out Maddie Bohr and got Stormee Galka to ground to Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) to end the inning.

The Lady Miners (8-13) scored four runs in the first two innings to give English a cushion. Klein led off the game with a single off the pitcher and Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette ) followed with a bloop hit down the right field line. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and with one out scored on Savannah Fedorchak (Oakville, Mo./Oakville)'s single to left field.

In the second inning, English walked with one out and then moved to second on Klein's single to center. Weiss followed with an RBI single to center to score English and send Klein to third. Klein and Weiss then pulled off a double steal to score the fourth run of the game.

S&T tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of Carley Hamann (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way North).

Jackson came on in relief of English in the seventh and allowed a lead-off single before retiring the next three hitters to complete the shutout.

The Lady Miners had nine hits in the opener led by Weiss with three while Klein and Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) had two each. English allowed only two hits in six innings of work with three strikeouts against one walk to improve to 4-6.

Game 2 – Lindenwood 4, Missouri S&T 3 eight innings
In the nightcap it was the Lions who struck scoring twice in the first inning. Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) allowed back-to-back one out singles and then with two outs Faith Koffron singled to right to drive in a run. Young couldn't knock the ball down and it went to the fence allowing the second run to score and send Koffron to third. Viets was able to avoid further damage though getting Kimmie Fozzard to ground out to end the inning.

S&T got a run back in the home half of the first. Klein led off with a double and moved to third on Weiss's sacrifice bunt. After a pop up, Fedorchak delivered a two out single to right scoring Klein.

Lindenwood tacked on another run in the second. Madi Huot led off the inning with a double to left center. With one out she stole third and came into score on a throwing error by Lauren King (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt North).

The Lady Miners evened the game up in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Ashley Rausch (Washington, Iowa/Washington) singled and King walked. Rachel Aiardo (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) reached on an error by the first baseman, pulled her foot, to load the bases. Klein followed with a single over the right fielder's head scoring Rausch and King. Weiss then reached on an infield single to reload the bases. S&T missed an opportunity to grab the lead as Hamann grounded into a force out and Fedorchak lined out to third to end the inning.

Neither side threatened again until the sixth inning. Lindenwood got back-to-back two out singles in the top of the inning but Viets got Galka to line out softly to Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the inning the Lady Miners got a lead-off walk from Young and then Rausch reached on an error by the first baseman. King moved both runners up with a sacrifice but Heckemeyer struck out swinging and Klein grounded out to short to end the threat.

In the seventh the Lions got a double and a single with no outs to put runners on the corner but were unable to break the deadlock as Viets got a groundout to short for the first out. After a walk loaded the bases, Viets got Fozzard to ground into a force out and then struck out Morgan Brown to end the inning.

S&T had a another chance in the home half of the seventh. After the first two were retired, Fedorchak walked and Franceschini reached on an error by the shortstop but Young grounded out to third to end the threat.

In the eighth inning the game went to the International Tie Breaker with each team starting with a runner on second. Lindenwood got a sacrifice bunt from Brooke Tiehes to move the go-ahead run to third. With one out Austine Pauley singled up the middle to plate the go-ahead run. Viets then got back-to-back groundouts to end the inning.

The Lady Miners got the tying run to third in the home half of the eighth but couldn't bring her in as King popped up to first and Gretchen Egly (Joliet, Ill./Plainfield Central), pinch-hitting for Aiardo, struck out looking.

S&T was held to just five hits in the nightcap and were led by Klein with two. Weiss, Fedorchak and Rausch had a hit each. Viets suffered the loss to fall to 4-6 allowing four runs, one earned, on 12 hits with four walks and two strikeouts in eight innings of work.

The Lady Miners are back in action on Sunday afternoon traveling to Indianapolis, Ind., to take on the Greyhounds of the University of Indianapolis in a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. (CDT).