ROLLA, Mo. – After playing in five tournaments to open the 2024 campaign, Missouri S&T's softball team will begin its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule this weekend as it heads to Quincy and Illinois Springfield for doubleheaders.

The Miners will take on Quincy Saturday afternoon for a twinbill that begins at noon in Quincy, Ill., then heads over to the Illinois state capital for another pair of contests Sunday that will also start at noon.

S&T already has 24 games under its belt on the year and will bring a record of 9-15 into its GLVC opener on Saturday.  The Miners have been paced at the plate thus far by Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury), who is batting .389 with a team-leading 18 runs batted in and Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk), who is hitting .300 with 16 runs driven in.  Anderson has a team-leading 10 hits for extra bases – her eight doubles rank second in the GLVC -- while nine of Wooldridge's 28 hits have gone for extra bases thus far.

Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) has also driven in 11 runs for the Miners this season, while Alyssa Haile (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell Central) leads S&T with five stolen bases.

In the circle, Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) is 4-3 with a 3.59 earned run average, while striking out 61 hitters in 62 1/3 innings. Wooldridge also has four wins in nine decisions with a 4.67 ERA and has also fanned nearly one batter per inning with 56 in 57 innings of work.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Quincy is currently 10-12 on the season after completing a trip to Florida earlier this week, one that saw the Hawks lose their final four games in a 4-6 trip.  Saturday's doubleheader will be the first home games of the season for Quincy.

Isabella Shields leads the Hawks with a .339 batting average, while Allison Kaiser is batting .264.  The Quincy RBI leader is Maddy Findley with eight and she has also hit the only home run of the season for the Hawks.  Abbey Hultz is 5-5 on the season with a 2.42 earned run average in the circle.

Illinois Springfield is completing a trip to Florida this week as well and is currently at 16-10 on the year.  UIS went 7-3 on its trip, but lost its last two games as well as it was swept by West Chester on Wednesday.

The Prairie Stars are batting .308 as a team – the second-best mark in the GLVC – with Ella Brinkley leading the way with a .386 batting average that ranks sixth in the GLVC, while Isabell Wilson is eighth in the league in hitting with a .381 mark.  Melia Bender, meanwhile, is hitting .364 and has driven in a team-high 19 runs while Wilson has knocked in 18 to back the pitching of Alexis Carroll, who is 6-3 with a 2.88 ERA and Rosie Barletti, who has a 5-2 mark as well and a 2.79 ERA.  Carroll leads the staff with 44 strikeouts.