PITTSBURG, Kan. – Late inning struggles plagued Missouri S&T's softball team Saturday as it dropped its first two games at the MIAA/GLVC Crossover, as Central Missouri and Pittsburg State handed S&T losses on the first day of the event.
Central Missouri scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning to overcome a deficit to beat the Miners 5-3, then Pittsburg State broke a scoreless tie with a two-run fifth inning in a 2-0 win in the second game of the day. The losses dropped the Miners to 7-7 on the season heading into a Sunday doubleheader with Northwest Missouri State in Joplin.
Game 1 – Central Missouri 5, Miners 3
After the Jennies (9-5) got a pair of runs in the second, the Miners cut the lead in half in the fourth when
Rachel Smith (Monroe City, Mo./Monroe City R-1) doubled with one out and came in to score on a two-out single by
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury). S&T then grabbed the lead with a two-run fifth, which began with a leadoff single by
Shiane Taylor (St. Jacob, Ill./Triad).
Peyton Dillon (Yorkville, Ill./Rosary) ran for Taylor and stole second with one out, then moved to third on a hit by
Alyssa Haile (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell Central) and scored when
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) reached on an error.
Later in the inning, Haile crossed the plate on a wild pitch to put S&T into the lead.
The Miners were an out away from escaping a jam in the sixth, but Ashlyn Cook doubled in two runs to put the Jennies back in the lead.
UCM outhit the Miners 9-7 in the game with Wooldridge and Haile getting two hits apiece.
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton), who entered the game in the circle in the sixth, was charged with the loss.
Game 2 – Pittsburg State 2, Miners 0
The second game of the day for the Miners was a game dominated by the two pitchers – S&T's Wooldridge and PSU's Hannah Harrison – as both hurlers allowed only three hits apiece and combined to strike out 13 hitters.
S&T got two hits and loaded the bases in the second, but had a runner forced out at the plate during the inning. Pitt State had just one hit over the first four innings, but did all of its damage after the first two hitters were retired in the fifth.
Gracie Sullivan doubled into the gap with two outs, then after Keelah Griffith was hit by a pitch, Taylor Lambert delivered a two-run double to give the Gorillas the lead.
Harrison walked the leadoff hitter in the sixth but a got a double play to erase that runner, then set down the final four Miner hitters to complete the shutout.
Viox, Haile and
Shannon Flowers (Katy, Texas/Katy) had the Miner hits.
