ROLLA, Mo. – With the Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule down to its last two weekends, Missouri S&T's softball team heads to the state of Indiana this weekend for a pair of doubleheaders against nationally-ranked teams as it seeks to keep itself in contention for one of the eight spots in the conference tournament in early May.

The Miners will open the weekend with a twinbill against third-ranked Indianapolis on Saturday at noon Eastern time, then head down the road to Evansville, Ind., to play their final road doubleheader of the season against 17^th-ranked Southern Indiana that will get underway at noon.

S&T split the only two games on its schedule last week when it faced Quincy in GLVC play, beating the Hawks 5-3 in 11 innings in game one before falling 7-1 in the nightcap.  The split left the Miners in a three-way tie for seventh place in the standings at 9-11 with Rockhurst and Maryville, with other teams still lurking behind that trio heading into the stretch run of the season.  Missouri S&T comes into Saturday's games at 21-21 overall.

Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) continues to pace the Miners in hitting with a .341 average and has a team-high 22 extra base hits, including a league-high five triples that ranks 16^th in NCAA Division II.  Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) checks into the week with a .316 average and has six stolen bases – one in back of Antzoulatos – while Ashley Davis (Erie, Ill./Erie) is hitting .312 and is tied for second in the conference with 14 doubles.

Shannon Flowers (Katy, Texas/Katy) is also over the .300 mark at the plate with a .305 average and continues to lead S&T with six home runs and 33 runs batted in.  Meanwhile, Madison Passolano (Mokena, Ill./Lockport Township) has a .368 average in the 19 games she has played in and has recorded a .446 on-base percentage.

Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) threw all 11 innings in the game one win over Quincy to improve her record to 11-7 on the season and owns a 3.27 earned run average; she has a team-high 103 strikeouts in 124 1/3 innings on the year.  Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) has struck out 84 in 109 2/3 innings and is 9-10 for the season, while Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) has fanned 43 hitters in 29 1/3 innings.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT: Indianapolis rose two spots to third in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association rankings after going 3-1 last week in matchups against Southern Indiana and Missouri-St. Louis, moving the Greyhounds to 37-5 overall and 17-3 in the GLVC.  UIndy is one win away from clinching a berth to the GLVC Tournament.

The Greyhounds are hitting a league-best .370 as a team, paced by Megan Nichols with a .423 average and a team-high 18 stolen bases.  Dominique Proctor has a .418 average and Gianni Iannantone is hitting .410 with 30 runs batted in.  UIndy has the top two in the GLVC in the runs batted in department in Lexy Rees with 46 – she has also hit 10 home runs – and Emily O'Connor has driven in 45.

Not only does UIndy have the top offensive team in the GLVC, its pitching staff ranks second in earned run average at 1.34.  Kenzee Smith is 19-3 with a 1.10 ERA and 172 strikeouts and Haylie Foster is 18-2 with a 1.47 ERA and 100 strikeouts.

Southern Indiana ranks second to the Greyhounds on the offensive side, as the Screaming Eagles have a .325 team batting average in leading them to the best record in GLVC play at 18-2.  Katie Back is hitting .391 on the season and Lexi Fair is batting .389 with team highs of seven home runs and 38 runs batted in.  The 32-10 Screaming Eagles have hit 28 home runs among their league-high 114 extra base hits.

A trio of individuals have handled the bulk of the pitching duties for USI, led by Josie Newman with an 11-3 record and 2.19 ERA.  Allie Goodin and Hailey Gotshall have seven wins apiece with earned run average marks under three.