ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's softball team got all of its scoring done in the middle innings Wednesday afternoon and that was enough to pick up a sweep of its non-conference doubleheader over Minnesota State Moorhead at the S&T Softball Field. S&T won the first game 6-2, then completed the sweep with a 3-1 win in the nightcap to improve to 12-10 on the year in the first two games of an eight-game homestand.
Game 1: Miners 6, MSU Moorhead 2
The Miners fell behind in the top half of the third on an RBI single by Annika Norman, but tied the game back up in the bottom of the inning and then took the lead by scoring unearned runs in the fourth.
S&T knotted the score in the third when
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) singled with two outs and
Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) followed with a triple into the left field corner. Then in the fourth,
Ashley Davis (Erie, Ill./Erie) singled to open the inning and following a fielder's choice,
Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) reached on an error when the left fielder dropped the ball. Moments later,
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV) singled into left to score
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) to put the Miners in front.
Both runners on base after Jobson's hit advanced a base on
Chloe Saltijeral's (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) fly ball to right, then a wild pitch allowed Vaughn to score. That was followed by a hit by
Taylor Caton (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) to score the third run of the inning.
The Dragons (2-10) got a run back in the fifth, but the Miners tacked on two more in the bottom of the frame. Antzoulatos tripled for the second time in the game to open the inning – becoming the first Miner since 2006 to triple twice in the same game – and came home on a ground ball off the bat of
Shannon Flowers (Katy, Texas/Katy). Vaughn drove in the second run of the inning when she doubled off the fence in left to bring home Wooldridge.
Wooldridge also got the job done in the circle in game one as she struck out seven and allowed just five hits over six innings to improve her record to 7-3 on the season. S&T outhit the Dragons 11-5, with Davis and Caton also getting two hits along with Antzoulatos.
Game 2: Miners 3, MSU Moorhead 1
Just like in the opener, the Miners scored all their runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings and rode the pitching of Charyle Rowland to complete the sweep.
S&T got on the board in the third when Jobson singled past the third base bag, then went all the way to third on Saltijeral's sacrifice bunt.
Christina Eliopulos (Tinley Park, Ill./Victor J. Andrew) followed with a hit under the glove of the first baseman to plate Jobson. In the fourth, Flowers reached on a throwing error by the third baseman, then
Madi O'Farrell (Olathe, Kan./Olathe Northwest) came in to pinch-run and would score following hits by Vaughn and Saltijeral.
MSU Moorhead got a run across in the fifth on Ella Holiman's sacrifice fly, but the Miners regained their two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth as Viox was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a one-out double by Davis.
Rowland fanned eight – matching her season high -- in her complete game performance to pick up her fourth win of the season and like Wooldridge, allowed just five hits along the way. S&T outhit the Dragons 6-5 in the second game.
Missouri S&T will return to Great Lakes Valley Conference play Saturday when it hosts Southwest Baptist at noon at the S&T Softball Field.
