EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Some late inning heroics by Missouri S&T's softball team netted the Miners a pair of wins on Saturday at the Blue Bridge Battle, as S&T took the lead in its final at-bat in both games to pick up the sweep for the day.
Missouri S&T scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to pick up a 3-2 win over Cedarville, then used a four-run outburst in the top of the eighth to break a three-all tie and come away victorious by the score of 7-4 against Findlay.
The Miners will play two more games Sunday at the event, facing Kentucky Wesleyan at 10 a.m. and wrapping up its weekend with a game immediately afterwards against Walsh at the Deaconess Sports Complex.
Miners 3, Cedarville 2
Cedarville pushed across a run in each of the first two innings, but the Miners got one of them back in the bottom of the second when
Alyssa Haile (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell Central) reached on an infield single and error on a ground ball allowed her to advance to second. After a double steal, the Miners got on the board on
Lula Sassano's (Decatur, IL/St. Teresa) ground out that brought home Haile.
S&T had a scoring opportunity in the sixth but stranded a runner at second, but took full advantage of two walks and an error in the bottom of the seventh.
With one out, Sassano reached base on an infield hit, then
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) reached on an error. Following a walk to
Isabella Welton (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) that loaded the bases, a wild pitch allowed pinch-runner Kiera Jones to score and tie the contest.
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale), who was the hitter at the plate, drew a walk to load the bases a second time before
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) hit into a fielder's choice that ended up scoring Grobe with the game-winning run.
The Miners were outhit 6-5 in the game – Haile had two of the S&T hits – while starting pitcher
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) picked up the win as she fanned eight Yellowjackets in the game.
Miners 7, Findlay 4
S&T also fell behind in the opening inning against the Oilers, but took the lead with a two-run second that began with a double by Wooldridge. With one out,
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) singled and with two outs,
Mackenzie Shields (Kansas City, MO/Platte County) reached on an error that allowed both runners to score.
Findlay tied the game on Joslynne Frazier's leadoff homer in the second, but S&T regained the advantage in the sixth on a rally that started with another hit by Wooldridge. After her one-out single, Viox was hit by a pitch with two outs and a hit by Haile that followed scored pinch-runner
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV).
The Oilers knotted the score again on Frazier's second homer of the contest in the bottom of the sixth, but the Miners as the visiting team got the first crack in extra innings with the runner placed on second and took full advantage by putting four runs on the scoreboard.
With Jones at second to begin the inning, Wooldridge followed with a triple to right center to score Jones and scored herself along with Viox moments later on a double by Haile. Haile would come into score later in the inning on a hit by
Natalie Cuadras (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison).
Mayce Barber (Excelsior Springs, Mo./Excelsior Springs) threw a complete game with nine strikeouts to pick up the win and was backed by four hits by Wooldridge and two from Haile, as she drove in three in the game. Findlay outhit the Miners 9-8.
