Rolla, Mo. – After a 5-3 homestand the Missouri S&T Lady Miner softball squad hits the road again this weekend traveling to Kansas City to take on William Jewell and Rockhurst. The Lady Miners (14-19, 6-6 GLVC) will take on the Cardinals (14-16, 6-6 GLVC) on Saturday afternoon beginning at 12 p.m. and then on Sunday will take on the Hawks (20-16, 9-3 GLVC) at 12 p.m.
S&T currently sits in a three way tie with William Jewell and Wisconsin-Parkside for eighth in the GLVC standings and sits only a game behind Missouri-St. Louis, Truman State and Lewis for fourth.
Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) has 10 hits in her last 20 at-bats to raise her batting average to a team-high .402 while
Savannah Fedorchak (Oakville, Mo./Oakville) is riding an 11-game hitting streak and has raised her average to .375. The Lady Miners have six players with at least 10 RBIs led by Fedorchak with 22.
After a rough outing against Southern Indiana,
Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) has bounced back in her last two starts allowing three runs in 18 innings pitched. She went the distance in last Saturday's 2-1 11 inning win over Quincy picking up eight strikeouts in the contest and helped our own cause at the plate getting the walk-off hit. On Sunday against Truman, she gave up two runs on nine hits but struck out five and didn't issue a walk.
The Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak last Saturday sweeping Maryville in a doubleheader. They won the opener 2-0 on a five-hit shutout by Sarah Lewis and then rallied for a 5-4 win in the nightcap thanks to a four run fifth inning. Emily Hoover hit a three-run homer to left center breaking a 2-2 tie. The Saints scored twice in the seventh and had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with two outs but Anna Biondo got a foul out to first to end the game.
Brooke Bernard leads the Jewell attack hitting .394 and has driven in a team best 25 RBIs. Hoover leads the ball club with nine home runs and is second on the squad with 22 RBIs. The Cardinals have four players in their lineup hitting over .300.
Biondo leads the pitching staff with a 10-4 mark and has an earned run average of 2.03. She has struck out 79 batters in 96.2 innings pitched but has given up 27 extra-base hits this season. Lewis is 3-4 with a 4.10 ERA recording 21 strikeouts in 41 innings pitched.
Rockhurst enters Saturday's doubleheader at Drury having won 10 of its last 14 overall and 9 of 12 in GLVC play. The Hawks currently sit atop the conference standings holding a one-game lead over Indianapolis and Southern Indiana. Rockhurst had its four game winning streak snapped last Saturday dropping the second game of its doubleheader to Missouri-St. Louis 2-1.
Madison Wagner is one of three Hawks hitting over .300 with a .340 average and is 7-for-7 in stolen bases. Lauren Marks leads the squad with four home runs and has driven in 24 runs. Hannah Pyle, Kelsey Tepen and Lauren Cairo have hit three home runs each.
Bridgette Sappington is the ace of the Rockhurst staff going 15-4 with a 1.36 ERA. She has tossed nine complete games and thrown six shutouts. She has struck out 70 hitters in 106 innings pitched. She threw a perfect game in a 3-0 win over Maryville last Friday and was named the GLVC's Pitcher of the Week.
