INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Facing its highest-ranked opponent of the season, Missouri S&T's softball team fell victim to a trio of big innings by third-ranked Indianapolis Saturday afternoon as the Miners dropped decisions of 4-0 and 9-1 to the Greyhounds in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The losses dropped S&T to 21-23 overall and 9-13 in the GLVC.
Game 1: Indianapolis 4, Missouri S&T 0
In the opener, UIndy's Gianni Iannantone hit a three-run homer with two outs in the opening inning to give the Greyhounds all the runs they would need as Kenzee Smith blanked the Miners on five hits.
S&T had a couple of good scoring opportunities during the contest. The first came in the second inning, when it got back-to-back singles from
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) and
Madison Passolano (Mokena, Ill./Lockport Township) to open the frame, then loaded the bases with one out after
Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) reached base after the Greyhounds committed an error on a throw to second. Smith, however, got a strikeout and ground out to escape the inning unscathed.
After UIndy (29-5, 19-3 GLVC) tacked on a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Lexy Rees, the Miners had another scoring chance in the sixth as
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) led off with a double and went to third on a hit by
Shannon Flowers (Katy, Texas/Katy). Smith got out of that jam as well as she fanned the next three hitters, then pitched around a walk and an error in the seventh to preserve her shutout.
The Greyhounds outhit the Miners 8-5 in the opening contest; no Miner had more than one hit in the game. Wooldridge took the loss despite recording five strikeouts in the circle for the Miners.
Game 2: Indianapolis 9, Missouri S&T 1
Game two saw the two teams swap runs over the first two innings before the Greyhounds broke the game open with four-run outbursts in the fifth and sixth innings to end the contest after six innings.
Iannantone got UIndy on the board in the first with an RBI single, but S&T's
Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) tied the contest when she homered with one out in the second off Haylie Foster. The Miners got two more runners on base later in the inning on a pair of walks before Foster got a strikeout to get out of the inning.
Vaughn's home run, however, turned out to be the only S&T hit in the game. The Miners had three additional baserunners after the second that reached on walks and all three were stranded.
S&T starter
Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) kept the Greyhounds off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth, but a one-out walk to Sydnee Perry was followed by a stolen base, a hit by Sydnie Foster and a throwing error on the play that allowed Perry to come across with the go-ahead run.
Rees doubled in two more runs later in the inning and a wild pitch scored the fourth run in the fifth, then UIndy scored four additional runs in the sixth to close out the game.
UIndy had 11 hits in the nightcap.
The Miners will play their final road contests of the season Sunday when they take on 17
th-ranked Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind., with the first pitch scheduled for noon.
