ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's softball team greatly improved its chances of making the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament by sweeping a doubleheader Friday afternoon from Illinois Springfield at the S&T Softball Field, as a trio of pitchers blanked the Prairie Stars in both games and the Miners had a big inning that decided each contest.
Game 1: Missouri S&T 5, Illinois Springfield 0
The opener was delayed for an hour and 10 minutes before the teams traded zeroes into the sixth inning. It was in that that S&T exploded for five runs – all scoring with two outs – to back the pitching of
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) as she shut out UIS on eight hits.
The Miners had scoring opportunities in the first and third innings, but stranded runners on third base on both occasions. UIS (31-16, 15-11 GLVC) loaded the bases in the fourth, but Wooldridge got a ground ball to get out of that jam and then pitched around a one-out double in the sixth to keep the game scoreless.
Two big at-bats were keys to getting the Miners the lead in the bottom half of the sixth. With one out,
Madison Passolano (Mokena, Ill./Lockport Township) battled with UIS pitcher Payton Long through a 12-pitch at-bat and ended up doubling down the left field line.
Chloe Saltijeral (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) drew a walk with two outs and
Ashley Davis (Erie, Ill./Erie) singled to load the bases.
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV) followed and was down two strikes in the count, but was able to battle back to draw a walk that forced home the first run of the game.
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) added to the S&T lead with a single that scored Saltijeral and pinch-runner
Ciarrah Bell (Marceline, Mo./Marceline), then
Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) followed that with a double into the gap to bring home Jobson and Viox to complete the scoring in the sixth as S&T batted around in the inning.
Antzoulatos had two of the Miners' nine hits as they outhit the Prairie Stars 9-8.
Game 2: Missouri S&T 3, Illinois Springfield 0
The story was very similar in the second game as well, as S&T hurlers
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) and
Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) continued to keep the Prairie Stars off the scoreboard until the Miners were able to break through in the fifth.
Again, it was a two-out rally that got the Miners on the scoreboard, but it was one swing of the bat that got S&T all of its runs. Pinch-hitter
Ashley Davis (Erie, Ill./Erie) reached on an error by the second baseman with two outs in the fifth, which was followed by an opposite field single by Viox. Antzoulatos then hit a ball to left that carried over the fence for a three-run homer to put the Miners in front and give her five runs batted in on the afternoon.
From there, Kanoy retired six of the last seven hitters she faced with no balls leaving the infield; she had three strikeouts along the way that included a strikeout of Carly Chovanec to end the contest to pick up her second win of the season in the circle.
Rowland threw the first four innings and allowed just three hits in that span before turning the game over to Kanoy at the start of the fifth. Rowland pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the first and out of two other innings when the Prairie Stars had runners in scoring position.
The wins on Friday improved the Miners to 23-25 overall and 11-15 in the GLVC, putting S&T into a tie for eighth place in the standings with McKendree; the top eight teams will qualify for the conference tournament. The Miners have two games remaining on their schedule, which will be Sunday's noon doubleheader against Lewis at the S&T Softball Field.
