KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri S&T completed a sweep of its four games in the Kansas City area on Friday by sweeping a doubleheader from Rockhurst, taking the opener by a count of 5-1 and rallying with two runs in the top of the seventh to win the nightcap 6-5.
S&T (16-20, 7-5 Great Lakes Valley Conference) trailed 5-4 heading into the seventh inning, but scored twice in the inning and took the lead on a sacrifice fly by
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) – who was also the winning pitcher in both games – to complete the sweep. The two wins Friday marked the second time ever that the Miners have swept a doubleheader over the Hawks in Kansas City, the other time coming in 2014.
The Miners return to action next Saturday with a conference doubleheader against Missouri-St. Louis at the S&T Softball Field beginning at noon.
Game 1: Missouri S&T 5, Rockhurst 1
As was the case in the second game on Thursday at William Jewell, the Miners got on the board in the opening inning when
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) was hit by a pitch with one out, stole second and then scored on a hit by
Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk).
Wooldridge held the Hawks (6-18, 1-9 GLVC) without a hit over the first until the fourth, then got some breathing room in the sixth when S&T plated two more runs. Viox tripled with one out, then after a walk to Anderson with two outs and a stolen base by pinch-runner
Peyton Dillon (Yorkville, Ill./Rosary),
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale) singled in Viox.
On the play, an error allowed to score the second run of the frame to put S&T up 3-0.
Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) blasted a two-run homer in the seventh to extend the lead before the Hawks broke the shutout in the bottom of the seventh.
Wooldridge allowed just five hits and fanned a season-high 12 in her complete game effort.
S&T had four hits in the game, all of them as part of scoring sequences for the Miners.
Game 2: Missouri S&T 6, Rockhurst 5
The seventh started with a hit by Viox and a walk to Anderson, which preceded a hit by
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale) that scored Viox. The runners ended up at second and third after a wild throw into the infield, then after a pitching change, Wooldridge delivered a sacrifice fly to score Anderson with the go-ahead run.
Wooldridge, who took over in the circle in the third, pitched around a two-out hit in the bottom of the seventh to pick up her second win of the day and improved to 9-7 on the year.
The Miners got off to another fast start in game two, beginning with a leadoff homer by
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) on the third pitch of the game and a first-pitch, two-run homer later in the frame off the bat of
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale), her first collegiate home run that gave S&T starter
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) a three-run before she took to the circle.
But the Hawks got two of the runs back in the bottom half of the inning, the first scoring on a hit by Emily Berry and the second when Riley McGovern doubled with two outs to cut the lead to one.
S&T added to its lead in the third as Anderson and Neal singled with one out, which was followed by a two-out single by
Natalie Cuadras (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison) that allowed Dillon – who was running for Anderson – to come across the plate. Rockhurst cut the margin to one again in the fifth on a solo home run by Maya Gallagher.
Rockhurst grabbed the lead in the bottom of the sixth, first tying the score on an RBI single by Jayla Pierce and then taking its first lead of the day when Lilly Spring singled in Pierce with two outs.
The Miners outhit the Hawks 13-11 in the second game, with Neal getting three hits and Viox, Cuadras and
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV) getting two apiece.
