SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T's softball team bounced back from two Friday setbacks at the Drury Classic in a big way, scoring three times in the top of the seventh to down Minnesota Crookston 6-3 before blasting Nebraska Kearney 15-4 to earn a split of its four games at the event.
The wins pushed the Miners to 9-15 on the season and into a nearly two-week break in the schedule, as they will not see the field again until March 16 when they open their Great Lakes Valley Conference at Quincy.
Miners 6, Minnesota Crookston 3
After watching the Eagles (2-10) overcome a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game, the Miners responded with a three-spot of their own in the seventh to get the victory.
The game-winning uprising began when
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) reached on an infield single with one out. After Grobe stole second,
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) belted a two-run homer to put S&T on top. The Miners got another run before the inning ended on an RBI single by
Mackenzie Shields (Kansas City, MO/Platte County) that brought home pinch-runner
Peyton Dillon (Yorkville, Ill./Rosary).
S&T got on the board in the first when Wooldridge delivered a run-scoring single to drive in
Isabella Welton (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) and scored again in the second when starting pitcher
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) helped herself with an RBI single that scored
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville). The Miners extended their lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Shields got a hit to drive in Viox before the Golden Eagles tied the contest in the bottom of the inning on Shaelyn Grant's home run.
Rowland allowed only five hits and struck out eight to pick up her fourth win in the circle this season. She was aided by a nine-hit attack as Wooldridge, Viox and Shields all had two hits each.
Miners 15, Nebraska Kearney 4
Following their win over Minnesota Crookston, the Miners had to wait nearly four hours to return to the field but when they did, they had their best offensive outing of the season as they racked up a season-high 15 runs against the Lopers (8-7) by scoring in all four innings at the plate in a game called on the run rule after five innings.
Wooldridge pitched around a two-out walk in the top of the first, then S&T sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning and scored seven times. The first six hitters reached base, starting with an infield hit by Welton. After she stole second, Welton scored on a double by Grobe, who in turn scored on a hit by Wooldridge.
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale) drove in Wooldridge with a double, then
Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk) doubled in Neal to make it 4-0.
Shields drove in the fifth run of the inning with a hit and Welton knocked in the sixth with a double in her second plate appearance of the inning. The Miners' seventh run of the inning came when Shields scored on a passed ball.
UNK got a run back in the second, but the Miners put four more on the board on their half of the inning. A walk to Wooldridge to open the inning was followed by a double by Neal; an error on the throw back to the infield allowed Wooldridge to score. Anderson reached on an error, then Viox followed with a double to score both runners. Kiera Jones brought home the fourth run with a ground out that scored
Allie Kelly (Park Hills, MO/Central).
S&T scored two more runs in the third on an RBI double by Anderson and a sacrifice fly by Kelly, then put two more up in the fourth as an error and a passed ball allowed those runs to score.
The Miners had 12 hits in the game, seven of them for extra bases. Five Miners – Welton, Grove, Neal, Anderson and Shields – all had two hits apiece. Wooldridge got the win in the circle as she allowed six hits and struck out four in her five-inning outing.
