Rolla, Mo. – Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to defeat McKendree 6-4 in game two giving the Missouri S&T Lady Miners a split in its GLVC doubleheader with the Bearcats on Sunday afternoon. McKendree (28-19, 14-10 GLVC) won the opener 3-2 but had to withstand a seventh inning rally from S&T (19-28, 11-13 GLVC).
Game 2 – Lady Miners 6, McKendree 4
The Lady Miners struck first in the nightcap getting a two-out single from
Savannah Fedorchak (Oakville, Mo./Oakville) scoring
Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) to give S&T a 1-0 lead. It remained that way until the fourth. Rachel Hastings led off the inning with a single to left and advanced to third on back-to-back groundouts. Rebecca Franke singled to right to score Hastings with the tying run.
McKendree took the lead on a solo home run off the bat of Hastings with one out in the sixth.
Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) retired the next hitter but a walk and a hit-by-pitch but two on for Dani Schoenbacher. Schoenbacher hit a 1-2 pitch for a double to center scoring both runs to make it 4-1.
The Lady Miners got a run back in the home half of the sixth. Franceschini started the rally with a lead-off single, advanced to second on a groundout and went to third on
Jacey Allen (Roanoke, Texas/Byron Nelson)'s pinch hit single.
Ashley Rausch (Washington, Iowa/Washington) drove in Franceschini with a sacrifice fly to center.
In the seventh inning, S&T got back-to-back singles from
Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette ) and
Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) to bring the winning run to the plate. Fedorchak worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases with no one out. With one out, Franceschini hit a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left center for her first career walk-off home run.
The Lady Miners outhit the Bearcats 11-5 in the nightcap with Franceschini registering a career-high four hits in the contest. Klein and Weiss added two apiece.
Ashley Hill (Centralia, Mo./Centralia) came on in relief of Viets with two outs in the sixth and got the final four outs to pick up her first win of the season.
Game 1 – McKendree 3, Lady Miners 2
In the opener on Sunday, McKendree broke on top with a run in the first inning without a hit. Jamie Doggendorf was hit by a pitch to start the game, then stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
The Bearcats added to their lead with an unearned in the fifth. Once again it was Doggendorf in the mix as she started a rally with a two-out single, stole second and scored on an error by Weiss.
S&T got a run back in the home half of the fifth on a one out double from Klein scoring
Kelly Heckemeyer (St. Elizabeth, Mo./St. Elizabeth) who had led off the inning with a double. The Lady Miners couldn't get the tying run across the plate though as a pop out and a ground out ended the rally.
McKendree regained its two-run advantage in the sixth. With one out, Brooke Gajewski singled and was run for by Tylin Stephens. Franke followed with a double to right center to make it 3-1.
S&T got a two out rally going in the seventh with Weiss starting it off with a single to center and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Young followed roping a double to center to score Weiss to make it 3-2 and put the tying run in scoring position. Fedorchak worked through a lengthy at-bat eventually getting it to a full count but ended up striking out swinging to end the game.
The Lady Miners outhit the Bearcats 9-8 in the opener with Klein leading the way with two of them.
Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) suffered the defeat allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits with a pair of strikeouts to fall to 9-14.
S&T concludes its home schedule on Monday afternoon hosting Illinois Springfield in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
