ROLLA, Mo. – McKendree spoiled Missouri S&T softball team's regular-season home finale this Monday (April 23) as the Bearcats swept a Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) doubleheader, 5-1 and 10-3, at the S&T Softball Field.
 
Four Missouri S&T errors in game one and a balanced McKendree hitting attack resulted in a 5-1 setback as the Lady Miners mustered only three hits. 
 
In game two, McKendree scored a combined nine runs in the first two innings and never looked back in tagging S&T with a 10-3 loss.
 
 Missouri S&T, which went 11-10 at home this spring, is now 23-23 overall and 12-12 in the GLVC following today's two-game series. On the other side, McKendree won for the eighth time in its last 10 outings as the Bearcats improved their overall mark to 35-14 and 18-8 in the conference.   
 
Game 1 – McKendree 5, Missouri S&T 1 
 
In the opener, McKendree racked up 11 hits and took advantage of four S&T errors to post the conference win.
 
The Bearcats struck first with two runs in the second as a result of two Lady Miner miscues before S&T would answer in the bottom half of the inning with its only run of the contest coming off the bat of junior outfielder Carley Hamann (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way North), who smacked her second home run of this season over the center field fence to pull within 2-1.
 
McKendree managed to increase its lead to 5-1 in the top of the fourth inning as the Bearcats tallied three runs on four hits.  An RBI double by Abbie Bailey netted the first run while the second occurred on a run-scoring infield single from Rebecca Franke.  The next batter, Brooke Gajewski singled through the left side of the S&T infield for the Bearcats' third and final run of the game.
 
McKendree pitcher Miranda Gajewski, who's 19-5 to date this season, only allowed three Lady Miner hits to go with six strikeouts and no walks in seven innings of work.  Sophomore pitcher Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) (16-11) suffered the loss for S&T as she also accumulated six strikeouts and issued no walks in throwing a complete game. 
 
A pair of sophomores, shortstop Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) and outfielder Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) accounted for S&T's other two base hits with singles as the Lady Miners stranded three base runners to McKendree's eight.  Four Bearcat batters compiled two hits apiece.    
           
Game 2 – McKendree 10, Missouri S&T 3
 
Nine McKendree runs in the first two innings proved too much of a deficit for S&T to overcome as the Bearcats completed the doubleheader sweep. 
 
McKendree, which outhit the Lady Miners 17-9 in game two, pounced on S&T at the start with a five-run output in the first inning.  Designated player Brooke Gajewski, who clubbed two home runs and had six RBIs in the game, hit a two-run homer to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. Caitlyn Lowry duplicated Gajewski's four-base hit with one of her own to drive home a pair of runs and give the Bearcats a 4-0 lead.  McKendree used the long ball one more time in the first inning as Konnor Arrowood went long distance the other way to right field for a solo homer.
 
Leading 5-0, McKendree continued its high-powered offensive display in the top of the second with four more runs on five hits off S&T senior pitcher Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) (7-11).  The Bearcats loaded up the bases with no outs to set up a grand slam home run by Brooke Gajewski, which represented her 14th round tripper this spring.
 
A two-run home run from Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) in the bottom of the third inning gave S&T a glimmer of hope as the Lady Miners trailed 7-2 at that point.  Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley), who collected three hits in the game, singled to center field with two outs and Young followed with her 13th homer of the season as the ball sailed over the fence in left center field.  Young's 13 home runs this campaign is now one shy of tying S&T single-season record of 14 established by Kelsey Musselman in the 2008 season. 
 
The closest S&T would get was within six runs at 9-3 in the last half of the fourth inning as the Lady Miners scored on sophomore pinch hitter Kali Nelson (Dixon, Mo./Dixon)'s RBI single to right field which scored Carley Hamann (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way North) from third base.  Hamann lead off the frame with a single and then advanced to second on an infield groundout before moving to third base on another infield grounder.
 
A seventh-inning McKendree score on a Haegen Boyer run-scoring single gave the Bearcats a double-digit run total.
 
Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) joined Klein with a multiple-hit game as she registered two hits as the pair accounted for five of the team's nine total in the contest.
 
The win went to starter Konnor Arrowood (4-0), who tossed the first four innings for McKendree before giving way to relievers Kylee Silliman and Hannah Murphy. Silliman threw one-inning of scoreless relief and Murphy pitched the final two non-scoring frames.  Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) fanned four and walked four in six innings of relief work.
             
Up Next
Missouri S&T finishes up the regular season this weekend (April 28-29) with two GLVC road doubleheaders.  The Lady Miners take on the nationally-ranked Indianapolis Greyhounds this Saturday (April 28) at UI's Baumgartner Field in Indianapolis, Ind.  Game one is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (CT) with the second game to follow at 1 p.m. (CT).  S&T then wraps up its regular season this Sunday (April 29) against the Wisconsin Parkside Rangers at the Case Softball Complex in Somers, Wis.  First pitch for the twin bill opener is at 12 p.m. (CT) and a 2 p.m. (CT) start is slated for the nightcap.