SMYRNA, Tenn. – Missouri S&T's softball team fell short in a pair of one-run contests Sunday to complete its weekend at the Music City Invitational, as the Miners dropped a 5-4 decision to Ashland and then fell 2-1 to Purdue Northwest to finish play in the event.
Missouri S&T dropped to 2-4 on the season with the setbacks on Sunday and will return to play Friday at the Blue Bridge Battle in Owensboro, Ky. The Miners will open play against two of the teams they faced this weekend, taking on Ashland and Cedarville on Friday.
Game 1 – Ashland 5, Miners 4
The Miners took the early lead in the contest, scoring a run in the second when
Gretchen Roth (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) singled with one out and scored on a double by
Shiane Taylor (St. Jacob, Ill./Triad), then scored again in the third on a squeeze bunt by
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV) that brought home
Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy).
S&T starter
Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) allowed just three hits over the first four innings, but the Eagles (1-3) got to her in the fifth as they took the lead with a four-run outburst. Sidney Payton tied the game with a two-run triple with one out, then scored the go-ahead run on a triple that followed by Hailey Stuckman.
Ashland added another run before the fifth inning ended and scored again in the bottom of the sixth before the Miners staged a late rally to draw closer.
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) singled to open the inning and Antzoulatos drew a one-out walk, then after both runners moved up on a fly ball,
Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) singled down the line in left to score both runners to bring S&T back to within a run. However, Vaughn was stranded as the Eagles got out of the inning to preserve the win.
The Eagles outhit the Miners 10-7 in the contest, with Taylor getting two of the Miner hits. Kanoy, who was charged with the first four runs scored by Ashland, took the loss in the circle.
Game 2 – Purdue Northwest 2, Miners 1
The Miners' second game of the day turned into a battle between pitchers Emma Hill of Purdue Northwest and S&T's
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton), with all the scoring coming in the second inning as the teams combined for just nine hits between them.
The Pride (1-3) got their runs in the top half of the second when Amanda DeBoer reached on an infield hit that scored the first run, then a throwing error on the play allowed the second runner to cross the plate. S&T got one back in the bottom of the inning on the benefit of an error, as Kanoy and Jobson drew walks to start the frame and with two outs, Rowland reached on an error by Hill that allowed Kanoy to score.
But after getting that first run in the second, the Miners were held to two hits for the rest of the afternoon. S&T got its first two runners on in the third, had its leadoff hitter reach in the fourth and got two runners on base in the sixth but couldn't push any of them across.
Rowland struck out five in a complete game performance in the circle for the Miners, whose only hits in the contest came from Antzoulatos in the third and
Chloe Saltijeral (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) in the sixth. The Miners also drew six walks in the game.
