ROLLA, Mo. – After sweeping their inaugural home doubleheader of the season on Friday, Missouri S&T's softball team dropped both ends of a Great Lakes Valley Conference twinbill Sunday as Drury handed S&T an 8-2 defeat in game one and then took a 2-1 decision in eight innings in the nightcap on a breezy afternoon at the S&T Softball Field.
The Miners (12-20, 3-5 GLVC) were plagued by seven errors in game one, then missed good scoring opportunities in the nightcap before the Panthers (15-18, 3-5 GLVC) scored twice in the top of the eighth to break a scoreless tie.
Missouri S&T will be back in action Thursday when it faces William Jewell in a 2 p.m. doubleheader in Liberty, Mo.
Game 1 – Drury 8, Miners 2
After the teams swapped unearned runs in the opening inning – S&T got its run after
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a hit by
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) that went off the pitcher and allowed Grobe to cross the plate – the Miners took the lead in the second when
Alyssa Haile (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell Central) singled, stole second and scored on a hit by
Mackenzie Shields (Kansas City, MO/Platte County) that came at the end of a 13-pitch at-bat.
However, the Panthers took advantage of two errors by the Miners in the third to score three runs to take the lead for good. The first error, a throwing error on a bunt allowed the tying run to score, then the Panthers took the lead on a hit by Rylee Kolb that scored Sophia Luetticke.
S&T committed seven errors in the game and the Panthers scored in every inning that S&T committed a miscue, including two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Meanwhile, the Miners had only four runners reach base after Drury took the lead.
Drury outhit S&T 7-6 in the opener, as six different Miners had hits in the contest. Wooldridge took the loss in the circle for S&T.
Game 2 – Drury 2, Miners 1 (8 innings)
The Miners and Panthers battled through seven scoreless innings before the Panthers broke through in the eighth, taking the lead on a double by Kaley Adzick and a two-out triple down the line in left by Taylor Hartsell. Drury added an insurance run on an RBI single by Maggie McKee that followed the Hartsell triple.
S&T did get on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning when
Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk) doubled with one out – her fourth hit of the contest – and later scored on a sacrifice fly by
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville), but the tying was stranded on first.
The Miners had good scoring chances in the third, fourth fifth and sixth innings. In the third,
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a hit by Wooldridge, then Anderson was in scoring position with one out in the fourth but ended up stranded at third.
S&T had two runners on in the fifth and couldn't score, then Anderson and
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale) got hits to start the sixth inning and were sacrificed up a base, but the Miners couldn't get the runners home after that.
Wooldridge had two hits to go along with Anderson's four as the Miners had nine hits in the game.
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) took the loss as she scattered nine hits over eight innings of work.
