ROLLA, Mo. – In an effort to keep its hopes of reaching the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament alive, Missouri S&T's softball team got two solid pitching performances Saturday afternoon to pick up a split of its doubleheader with Lewis at the S&T Softball Field. The Miners (19-27, 10-12 GLVC) came from behind to beat the Flyers (31-15, 13-9 GLVC) 4-3 in 10 innings in game one, but fell 1-0 in the nightcap as they were held to just two hits.
With Saturday's split on Senior Day, the Miners enter the final day of the regular season two games in back of a trio of teams that currently hold the final two spots in the tournament. S&T will need a sweep Sunday over sixth-ranked Indianapolis and favorable results around the conference to make the field.
Game 1 – Miners 4, Lewis 3 (10 inn.)
In what turned out to be the Miners' longest game of the season, S&T needed a seventh inning rally to keep the game alive and then won it in the 10
th inning on a Madison Passalono single down the right field line.
The contest had the looks of a high-scoring affair early on, as Lewis jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first when Sara Serena hit a three-run homer to the opposite field and the Miners answered back with two in the bottom half of the inning. After
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) reached back on a wild pitch following a strikeout and Passolano singled,
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) hit into a fielder's choice as Viox was forced out at third.
However,
Hannah Antzoulatos (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) followed with a triple off the fence in right center to score Passolano and Wooldridge to get S&T back to within a run.
After the three-run first, Wooldridge settled and pitched out a pair of jams in the middle innings, as the Flyers had two runners in the third and again in the sixth but came up empty both times. The Miners missed a good scoring opportunity in the fifth when they had two runners on with one out and loaded the bases with two outs but was unable to get a run across.
In the seventh, Wooldridge led off the inning with a double to the fence in center, then Antzoulatos got a hit on a sharply hit ball off the shortstop that sent pinch-runner
Ciarrah Bell (Marceline, Mo./Marceline) to third.
Chloe Saltijeral (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary) followed with a bloop single into short right center that scored Bell with the tying run. But with runners at second and third with two outs, the Miners led those runners stranded to send the game into extra innings.
Wooldridge, after giving up the two hits to start the sixth, set down 12 straight Flyers before pinch-hitter Grace Erickson hit a leadoff double in the 10
th. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Erickson was cut down at the plate on Delaney Garden's grounder to
Rachel Smith (Monroe City, Mo./Monroe City R-1) as Saltijeral got the tag down in time. Lewis would end up loading the bases, but Wooldridge fanned Payton Wuske to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the 10
th,
Taylor Caton (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) doubled over the head of the centerfielder and Viox followed with a hit to send Caton to third. After Viox stole second to take away the force play and bring the infield in, Passolano lined a ball down the line that dropped in fair to end the game.
Missouri S&T outhit the Flyers 17-7 in the opener as the top four hitters in the Miner lineup – Viox, Passolano, Wooldridge and Antzoulatos – all had three hits apiece. Wooldridge allowed only five hits over nine scoreless innings after the first and recorded eight strikeouts along the way.
Game 2 – Lewis 1, Miners 0
The nightcap turned into a pitcher's dual between S&T's
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) and Lewis' Allie Wondrasek, as the two hurlers traded zeroes on the scoreboard over the first four innings. The two teams combined for only four hits and only five runners reached base before the Flyers broke through in the fifth.
After Gabi Nilles reached on a fielder's choice and stole second, Garden singled through the middle to bring home Nilles with the only run of the contest. Wondrasek was able to keep the Miners at bay throughout the contest, as she only allowed singles to Viox in the first and Passolano in the fourth; the only other Miner to reach base was
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV), who got on in the sixth due to an error. The Lewis hurler also recorded 10 strikeouts in the game.
Rowland took the loss in the circle, despite scattering seven hits and striking out seven.
