ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – For the second day in succession, Missouri S&T's softball team split a pair of games in the Ronnie Hawkins Tournament at Ouachita Baptist as it knocked off Lincoln 14-1 before suffering a 15-2 setback to Rogers State.
The Lady Miners (2-2) scored in all four innings it batted in game one, scoring once in the first when
Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) singled home
Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) and then exploding for five runs in the second and third innings.
In the second,
Jacey Allen (Roanoke, Texas/Byron Nelson) drew a leadoff walk, then
Rachel Aiardo (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) walked with one out and Weiss reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Carley Hamman followed with a bases-clearing double to make it 4-0. Later in the frame,
Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) drove in two with an RBI single to complete the scoring in that inning.
The Lady Miners continued the scoring onslaught in the third as Aiardo led off with a double down the line in left, went to third on a wild pitch and following a walk to Weiss – and a subsequent stolen base – Hamman knocked in both runners with a hit.
S&T would add three more runs before the third inning ended and tacked on three more in the fourth, including Hamman's sixth RBI of the game and a two-run homer off the bat of
Gretchen Egly (Joliet, Ill./Plainfield Central).
Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) blanked the Blue Tigers over the first four innings before turning the game over to
Courtney Jackson (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) in the fifth, when Lincoln broke the shutout with two outs in the inning.
Hamman was three-of-three in the opener with the six runs driven in, while
Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) also had two hits in a game in which the Lady Miners outhit Lincoln 11-6.
The second game, however, saw Rogers State jump out to a 2-0 lead in the opening inning against S&T starter
Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville), add a run in the second on the first of two home runs by Merissa Smith and put up four more in the fourth before S&T got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of that inning.
Following a one-out walk to Egly,
Hannah Smith (Oconomowoc, Wis./Catholic Memorial) drove her home with a two-out single to get S&T its first run. After the Hillcats scored twice in the fifth, S&T got one in the bottom of the inning when Young drove in Weiss with a ground out. However, Rogers State scored six runs in the sixth to bring the game to a close after six innings due to the eight-run rule.
Rogers State outhit S&T 19-3 in the contest; Smith had two of the Lady Miners' three hits.
Missouri S&T will wrap up its weekend in Arkansas with a game Sunday against Henderson State at 11 a.m.
