ROLLA, Mo. – A big inning in each game helped propel Missouri S&T's softball team to a doubleheader sweep Sunday afternoon, as the Lady Miners took a pair from Truman State by scores of 10-2 and 4-2 at the S&T Softball Field.
The Lady Miners (6-3) scored six runs in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie in game one, then overcame a 2-1 deficit in the nightcap with three runs in the fifth, scoring the go-ahead runs on a two-out, two-run double off the bat of
Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) to complete the sweep of the non-conference twinbill.
After S&T pitcher
Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) and Truman's Alyssa Hajduk traded zeroes on the scoreboard for the first three and one-half innings of game one – with Hajduk pitching out of jams in two of the first three innings – a leadoff single down the right field line by
Ashley Davis (Erie, Ill./Erie) started the six-run uprising in the fourth.
Ashley Rausch (Washington, Iowa/Washington) drew a walk and after the runners were sacrificed ahead,
Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) reached on an infield hit to load the bases. A walk to
Courtney Jackson (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) forced in a run to break the tie, then Carley Hamman sent a single up the middle to score two to extend the lead to 3-0; a throwing error on the play put the other runners at second and third
Following a pitching change,
Gretchen Egly (Joliet, Ill./Plainfield Central) greeted Nicolette Simpson with a two-run single and she would score later in the inning on a double by Young.
Truman (4-4) scored twice in the fifth off English, but the Lady Miners put three more on the board in bottom half of that inning on a sacrifice fly by Egly and RBI singles by
Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) and Davis before ending the game in the sixth with Egly drove in her fourth run of the contest with a single with the bases loaded.
S&T outhit the Bulldogs 15-5 in the opener, with Weiss getting four of the hits and Hamman getting three. English struck out three while allowing the five hits.
In game two, Truman All-America outfielder Christa Reisinger led off the game with an opposite field home run off S&T starter
Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs), but the Lady Miners tied it in the second on a single by Egly and a one-out double into the left field corner by Franceschini.
The Bulldogs regained the lead in their half of the third when Reisinger single, stole second and scored on Jamie Fowle's double, but Viets retired the next six hitters before turning the game over to English in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Miners first tied the game without the benefit of a hit – a leadoff walk to Rausch, two errors on sacrifice bunts and a four-pitch walk to Jackson that forced in a run. With two outs, Young drove a Lauren Dale pitch to the fence to score two and give S&T its first lead of the contest.
English got two strikeouts to escape a two-on, one-out situation in the sixth and got another strikeout in the seventh after a two-out double by Reisinger to pick up her second win in the circle on the afternoon.
Truman outhit S&T 6-5 in the second game.
Sunday's wins ended an eight-game losing streak against the Bulldogs and was S&T's first doubleheader sweep over Truman since 2004 – when both teams were members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The Lady Miners' 6-3 record through nine games is their best mark at this point in the season since 2007.
The Lady Miners' next action will take place this weekend – beginning Friday – at the Lewis Division II Dome Invitational in Rosemont, Ill. Missouri S&T will play five games over the span of three days in the event.
