ROLLA, Mo. – The 2023 regular season has reached the final week for Missouri S&T's softball team, who will play six games at home and is looking to make a late run to keep its season going past this weekend.

The Miners will open their final homestand on Wednesday when they host Missouri Western in a 1 p.m. non-conference doubleheader at the S&T Softball Field, then return to Great Lakes Valley Conference action Saturday when they host Lewis in a noon twinbill on Senior Day.  The regular season slate concludes for S&T Sunday when it faces sixth-ranked Indianapolis at noon.

Missouri S&T will honor its six seniors prior to the start of Saturday's doubleheader, with the ceremony slated to start at 11:30 a.m., before the first pitch at noon.

On the field, the Miners come into the final weekend of conference play at 17-25 overall and 9-11 in the GLVC; they are currently one game out of the final GLVC Tournament spot that is shared by Drury and Quincy.  The Panthers and Hawks both have four games remaining as well, but both teams also hold the tiebreaker edge at the moment over S&T.

The Miners went 1-3 over the past weekend, splitting a doubleheader at McKendree Saturday before dropping both ends of Sunday's doubleheader at Maryville.  The Miners got a strong pitching performance from Charyle Rowland in the 2-1 win at McKendree, as she fired a two-hitter and allowed only one hit after a triple that opened the game. 

S&T got all the runs it needed when Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) belted a two-run homer in the third inning as she recorded six hits in the final three games of the weekend to raise her team-leading batting average to .325.  Antzoulatos – one of the six seniors who will be honored Saturday – also leads the Miners with 23 runs batted in on the year.

Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) and Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) are also over the .300 mark at the plate, with Viox hitting .313 and leading S&T with eight stolen bases, while Wooldridge comes into the week with a .302 mark.  Wooldridge has also thrown a staff-high 109 2/3 innings in the circle and leads the Miners with seven wins, while Rowland is 5-5 and has a team-best 2.54 earned run average.
 
ABOUT MISSOURI WESTERN: The Griffons, who were listed among the teams under consideration in the first NCAA regional rankings last week, come into the week with a 30-17 record after losing three of four over the weekend.  Western lost both ends of a doubleheader at Pittsburg State before salvaging a split Saturday at Missouri Southern.

Sydni Hawkins leads the Griffons with a .457 average on the season that currently leads the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, while Mackenzie DeVine has a team-high eight home runs and has knocked in 36 on the year.  The Griffons have two additional .300 hitters in Abby Dickey at .329 and Harley Preutting at .301.  Pruetting is also one of the top pitchers for Western with a 15-8 record and 2.29 earned run average, teaming up with Sam Pederson in the circle as she has posted a 13-6 with a 1.97 ERA and 139 strikeouts.

ABOUT LEWIS: The Flyers come into the weekend with the second-longest winning streak in the GLVC as they have won their last eight contests and have vaulted into a tie for fourth in the conference standings.  Lewis, 30-15 overall and 12-8 in the GLVC, was also among the teams under consideration in the first NCAA regional rankings for the Midwest Region.

Delaney Garden has stood out for the Flyers both as a hitter and pitcher this season, as she is the top hitter for Lewis with a .394 average and 14 stolen bases, while also recording a 13-5 record in the circle with a 1.68 earned run average.  Jayln Powell is hitting .353 on the year with a team-high 29 runs batted in, while Gabi Niles is hitting .330 and leads the Flyers with 15 stolen bases.

ABOUT INDIANAPOLIS:  The Greyhounds have won 11 consecutive games as they come in this weekend with a 45-4 record and an 18-1 mark in conference play; UIndy has already clinched the top seed for the upcoming GLVC Tournament.  UIndy has the top offensive team in the GLVC with a team batting average of .328, while its pitching staff has a league-best 1.51 earned run average.

The Greyhounds have hit a league-high 43 home runs, led by Emily O'Connor's 12 and seven more off the bats of Megan Nichols and Lexy Rees.  Nichols leads UIndy with a .413 batting average, while O'Connor is hitting .381 and leads the GLVC with 58 runs batted in.  UIndy has six players that have at least 30 runs batted in this season.  On the pitching front, Kenzee Smith is 26-3 with a 1.51 ERA and has struck out more than one hitter per inning (171 strikeouts in 167 1/3 innings) and Jayden Casebolt is 10-1 with a 1.62 ERA.