ROLLA, Mo. – Fresh off a weekend in which it went 5-1 at the Blue Bridge Battle, Missouri S&T's softball team will travel west for the first time this season as it will take part in a crossover event between teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference and Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association this weekend.

Missouri S&T will play five games in the three-day event, which was originally scheduled to start on Friday but will open a day later due the weather expected in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas at the end of this week.  The Miners' first two games will take place at Pittsburg State on Saturday, where they will face Central Missouri at 10 a.m., and the host Gorillas at 12:30 p.m.

The remainder of the weekend will be spent in Joplin, as the Miners will take on Northwest Missouri State in a doubleheader on Sunday at Missouri Southern State University – which will start at 10 a.m. --  before closing out the extended weekend with a single game the following day against Missouri Southern at noon.  The Missouri Southern was moved from Friday to Monday due to the weather forecast.

The Miners, who improved to 7-5 on the season with their performance in Evansville last week, got a strong performance from Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) both in the circle and at the plate during the past weekend.  Wooldridge went 3-0 in the circle and allowed only two earned runs in 21 innings of work, while going 10-of-19 at the plate in the six contests.  For the season, she is batting a team-best .444 and has a 2.51 earned run average with 25 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings.

Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) also had a big weekend in Evansville and raised her average to .417 on the year, while Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) is hitting .400 out of the leadoff position in the lineup.  Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) leads the Miners with 12 runs batted in and hit the team's first home run of the season in Saturday's win over Kentucky Wesleyan.

Besides Wooldridge, Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) has two wins in the circle and has struck out 38 batters in 31 1/3 innings to the lead the staff.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS:  All four of the Miner opponents in the event come into the weekend with records above the .500 mark.  Central Missouri is 8-5 on the season after going 1-2 at the Washburn Invitational last weekend; the Jennies had won seven of eight prior to dropping their final two games in Topeka.  UCM is hitting .301 as a team, led by Makenzie MaAtee's .455 average, while Abbey Fischer and Ashlyn Cook have hit two home runs apiece.

Pittsburg State is 10-6 on the year and is on a seven-game winning streak.  The Gorillas have three hitters over the .400 mark, led by Taylor Lambert's .444 average, while pitcher Hannah Harrison has struck out 52 batters in 46 innings of work.

Northwest Missouri State has opened its season at 9-5 and won its last three contests last week in Topeka.  The Bearcats, who own wins over two GLVC teams this season, are led at the plate by Omara Love, with a .538 batting average and five stolen bases.  Olivia Daugherty is hitting .442 with six home runs on the young season.

Missouri Southern is also 9-5 on the campaign and won its final two games in a crossover event with the Great American Conference last weekend.  Leighton Withers is hitting .510 for the Lions with seven home runs and 24 runs batted in, while Avery Tollman has an 8-1 record in the circle with a 1.73 ERA in 48 innings.