Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miner softball squad was swept in its home finale on Monday afternoon by Illinois Springfield 4-2 and 5-2 at the S&T Softball Field.
Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette ) finished the afternoon with five hits while
Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley),
Carley Hamann (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way North) and
Rachel Aiardo (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) finished with two hits apiece.
Game 1 – Illinois Springfield 4, Lady Miners 2
S&T (19-30, 11-15 GLVC) had the game's first scoring chance loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the first but were unable to bring them as a fly out and a groundout ended the threat.
The Prairie Stars (29-21, 15-11 GLVC) took advantage of the missed opportunity with a run in the second inning. Morgan Edwards was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning then Haley Inman came into run for her and stole second and third. Erin Stroup drove her in with a single to right center.
The Lady Miners tied the game in the home half of the third. With one out, Weiss singled to short, stole second and scored on an error by the first baseman on a ball hit by
Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township). S&T had runners at second and third with two outs in the frame but
Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) was robbed of extra bases on a nice running catch towards the line by the right fielder.
UIS regained the lead in the fourth. Stroup led off with a triple to right then Alexa Brown drove her in with a double to center field. A sacrifice moved Brown to third and she scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Ali Haesele.
The Prairie Stars added an insurance run in the fifth on groundout to short with runners on first and third to make it 4-1.
The Lady Miners got a run back in the seventh on
Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley)'s first career home run. She hit a line shot over the fence in left cutting the deficit in half. Weiss followed reaching on an infield single bringing the tying run to the plate but S&T was unable to complete the comeback as the next three hitters were retired.
The Lady Miners finished with nine hits in the opener led by Weiss with four.
Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) went the distance allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks.
Game 2 – Illinois Springfield 5, Lady Miners 2
In the back end of the doubleheader UIS scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first but S&T came back with two of its own in the bottom of the frame to knot the score. The Lady Miners had the bases loaded with one out in the inning and were looking to add on but a strikeout and a groundout ended the threat.
The Lady Miners had another chance in the second putting runners at second and third with two outs but couldn't score.
The Prairie Stars loaded the bases with no one out in the third but
Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) got out of the jam without allowing a run to score. She got back-to-back groundouts and a pop up to short to end the threat.
UIS retook the lead scoring three times on three hits in the sixth. BriAnna Edgar had an RBI double while Haesele had an RBI single and Allison Rose drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
S&T was held to just six hits in the second game with six different players registering one each. Viets went the 5.1 innings and allowed five runs, three earned, on seven hits with a pair of walks and a strikeout.
Ashley Hill (Centralia, Mo./Centralia) went the final 1.2 innings allowing one hit.
The Lady Miners conclude the regular season this weekend heading up north to take on Wisconsin-Parkside in a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon beginning at 12 p.m.
