EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri S&T's softball team had its best offensive day of the season Sunday as it accumulated 19 runs in two contests, but that was only good enough for a split on the final day of the Blue Bridge Battle.
The Miners (7-11) whipped Kentucky Wesleyan 9-2 in their first game of the afternoon, then couldn't pull off a third rally in their finale as they fell 11-10 in eight innings to Walsh. S&T overcame six- and four-run deficits in the Walsh contest, but was unable to score in the eighth after Walsh had taken the lead.
Missouri S&T's next action will take place Thursday when it faces Rogers State in Claremore, Okla., before heading to the Drury Classic in Springfield, Mo., for four weekend contests.
Miners 9, Kentucky Wesleyan 2
In its first game of the day, the Miners scored single runs in the second and third innings before breaking the contest open with four runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to record their third straight victory.
S&T took the lead in the second when
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) singled with two outs, stole second and crossed the plate following a hit by
Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk). The Miners added to their advantage an inning later as Kiera Jones drew a walk and came all the way around to score when
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) reached on a throwing error.
Kentucky Wesleyan (4-5) got on the scoreboard in the third, but the Miners put up four runs in the fifth to provide some cushion for starting pitcher
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury). The uprising started when
Isabella Welton (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) reached on an infield single and
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale) drew a walk, then Wooldridge followed with a hit to score Welton.
The runners ended up at second and third following the throw to the plate, then
Alyssa Haile (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell Central) hit a sacrifice fly that wound up scoring both runners, as Neal scored on the fly ball and Wooldridge scored following an error on the throw to third. S&T got its fourth run of the inning when Jones drew a bases-loaded walk after a pair of Panther errors kept the inning alive.
S&T pushed three more runs across in the sixth, as Haile brought home one on an infield hit, Anderson driving in the second with a hit and an error on a ball hit by
Mackenzie Shields (Kansas City, MO/Platte County) allowing the third run to come home.
Wooldridge went the distance for the win and fanned a season-high 11 along the way to improve to 3-4. The Miners outhit KWC 8-6, with Anderson getting three of the hits.
Walsh 11, Miners 10 (8 innings)
The second game started ominously for the Miners as the Cavaliers scored six times in the top of the first, but S&T chipped into the lead by scoring twice in the third.
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV) opened the inning with a hit and moved along to third following a double by Grobe, then Welton drew a walk to fill the bases. Neal singled into center to bring in the first run, then Wooldridge hit into a fielder's choice to score the second run.
With one out in the fifth, S&T loaded the bases as Welton reached on an error and Neal and Wooldridge followed with hits. Anderson proceeded to clear the bases with her first home run as a Miner, belting a grand slam over the fence in center to knot the score at six.
However, Walsh strung together a four-run rally of its own in the top of the sixth and carried that four-run lead into the bottom of the seventh, where the Miners would put together another game-tying rally.
Wooldridge opened the inning by reaching on an error and moving along to second on a throwing error on the play before scoring on an RBI single by Anderson.
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) drew a walk and Shields reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. Jones drew a walk with two outs to force in a run and cut the margin to 10-8, then Grobe singled to drive in another run and a subsequent error on the play brought home the tying run.
S&T had the winning run at third with one out after that sequence, but couldn't get that run across to send the game to extra innings. Walsh got its tie-breaker runner home on two ground outs, then the Miners had a first-and-third situation in the bottom of the inning and would later load the bases with one out, but Shields lined into a double play to end the game.
Walsh outhit S&T 14-11 with five Miners accounting for all of those hits. Wooldridge had three hits, while Grobe, Neal, Anderson and Jobson all had two apiece; Anderson also drove in five runs for S&T.
Natalie Cuadras (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison), the third pitched used by S&T in the game, was tagged with the loss in the circle.
