ROLLA, Mo. – A lighter schedule awaits Missouri S&T's softball team this weekend as the Miners have just one doubleheader on the slate, but its twinbill Saturday at Quincy is important for S&T from the standpoint of keeping itself in a good position to make the field for next month's Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

The Miners will take on the Hawks in a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Quincy as it will look to move back into the top eight in the GLVC standings prior to the final two weekends of league play.  S&T is currently 8-10 in the GLVC – and 20-20 overall – and a pair of wins Saturday would vault the Miners back among the teams that would qualify for the tournament.

Last weekend, the Miners opened with a split of their doubleheader with McKendree before losing both ends of Sunday's twinbill with Missouri-St. Louis.  The losses to UMSL dropped S&T to ninth in the standings, but it sits just percentage points behind eighth place Rockhurst and one game in back of Maryville who is in seventh.

Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) continues to lead the Miners in hitting with a .347 average and has a team-high 20 extra base hits, including four triples that is tied for the most in the GLVC.  Ashley Davis (Erie, Ill./Erie) has a .319 average and ranks fourth in the conference in doubles with 13, while Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) is hitting .314 and has six stolen bases, one behind the team-leading seven by Antzoulatos.

Shannon Flowers (Katy, Texas/Katy) leads the Miners with six home runs and 33 runs batted in, while Madison Passolano (Mokena, Ill./Lockport Township) – who returned to the lineup last weekend – has batted .417 in the 17 games she has appeared in this season.

In the circle, Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) has a 10-7 record and 3.46 earned run average entering the Quincy doubleheader and has recorded 96 strikeouts in 113 1/3 innings, while Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) is 9-9 with a 3.86 ERA and 82 strikeouts.  Rowland picked up the win in game two against McKendree after retiring 17 of the final 18 hitters in that outing.  Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) has struck out 38 hitters in the 26 innings she has worked this season.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT:  Quincy comes into Saturday's games at 11-24 overall and 5-13 in the GLVC and is fresh off a doubleheader sweep on Saturday over Truman State by scores of 9-0 and 4-3 in Kirksville.   The Hawks have a trio of hitters over the .300 mark on the season led by Allyson Maynard, who leads the team in hitting with a .323 average, six home runs and 22 runs batted in.

Taylor Downen is batting .321 on the season and Bailey Mitchell is hitting .313 and has belted five home runs.  Pitching-wise, Jayle Jennings has a 2.43 earned run average in her 17 appearances, while Bailee Highbarger has three wins in the circle and has fanned 48 hitters in a team-high 89 innings of work.

Even though the Hawks are just 5-13 in the GLVC, they own wins over Missouri-St. Louis and fifth-ranked Indianapolis this season.