ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's softball team will hit the road for the final time in Great Lakes Valley Conference play in the upcoming weekend, as the Miners look to make a late surge to secure a spot in the upcoming conference tournament.

The Miners, 16-22 overall and 8-8 in the GLVC, will face McKendree in a noon doubleheader on Saturday, then come across the river for a  Sunday twinbill at Maryville that will also begin at noon.  The Miners enter the weekend tied for eighth with Lewis in the GLVC standings – S&T will host the Flyers on April 29 – with the top eight finishers qualifying for the conference tournament that begins May 4.

S&T heads into Saturday's games with McKendree looking to halt a four-game losing streak, as the Miners dropped a pair of games to Missouri-St. Louis late last week and then lost both games of Tuesday's doubleheader with defending NCAA Division II champion Rogers State.  The Miners come into play with three players batting over .300 on the season in Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) and Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) at .314 and Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) at .313 on the year.

Shannon Flowers (Katy, Texas/Katy) leads the Miners with three home runs, while Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) has a team-high 21 runs batted in.  Viox leads S&T with seven stolen bases on the year.

In the circle, Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) has a team-best 2.32 earned run average and a 4-4 record, while Wooldridge leads the staff with seven wins and has struck out 87 hitters in 101 1/3 innings.  Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) has fanned 79 hitters in 66 2/3 innings of work.

ABOUT McKENDREE: The Bearcats bring records of 24-11 overall and 10-6 in the GLVC into the weekend and are the only team in the GLVC to post a win over conference leader Indianapolis, as they beat the Greyhounds 7-0 on April 7.  McKendree, who split doubleheaders last weekend with Southwest Baptist and Rockhurst, is currently among the 10 teams listed in the initial NCAA Division II Midwest regional rankings that were released on Monday.

McKendree is ranked second in the GLVC in hitting with a .313 team batting average, led by Lauren Harris' .472 mark that leads the GLVC.  Harris has also driven in a team-high 45 runs while Olivia Stansbury, last year's GLVC Player of the Year, has a league-high 13 home runs and has driven in 40.  Harris and Stansbury rank second and third in the GLVC in the RBI department.  Meanwhile, Ellie Quaethem has made 18 starts in the circle and has a 15-3 record with a 1.56 earned run average and also leads the staff with a GLVC-best 176 strikeouts in 108 innings.
 
ABOUT MARYVILLE:  The Saints currently reside in second place in the GLVC standings at 13-5 and are 25-15 overall; they are also among the top 10 teams in the NCAA Midwest regional rankings this week.  Maryville hosts Missouri-St. Louis Saturday in a doubleheader before the Miners' visit on Sunday.

Taylor Shingler leads the Saints with a .393 batting average, the fifth-best mark in the GLVC, while Kylie Swinney is seventh in the conference at the plate with a .374 mark.  Maryville has two other hitters above the .300 mark in Melanie Nelson at .342 and Emily Corona at .339.  Pithcing-wise, Emersen Heron has a 12-6 record and 3.12 earned run average and Chayse Ramey is 8-7 with a 4.00 ERA and a staff-leading 71 strikeouts.