ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's softball team bounced back from a game one loss Sunday to Maryville in a big way, allowing it to gain a split of their Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader at the S&T Softball Field.
After losing 10-3 in the opener, the Miners defeated the Saints 10-2 in five innings in the nightcap to get the split that also kept them above the .500 mark in GLVC play at 12-10. The second game win improved S&T's overall record to 22-26 heading into a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday at Missouri Western before the Miners close out their GLVC schedule next weekend with a pair of home twinbills.
Following Sunday's action around the GLVC, the Miners reside along in fifth place in the conference standings.
Game 1: Maryville 10, Miners 3
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) set the Saints (21-26, 11-11 GLVC) down in order in the opening inning, but got roughed up in the second as Maryville scored six times after the second out was recorded.
Following a walk and two fly outs, Maryville's next six batters reached base before S&T got out of the inning. The scoring began with a two-run homer by Kylie Swinney, then the Saints tacked on four more runs before the frame ended and added two more in the third on Jenna Kosnoff's two-run homer. Maryville's last two runs of the contest came in the fifth on a run-scoring triple by Emily Corona and a sacrifice fly by Melanie Nelson.
All three of the Miner runs in the contest scored as the result of home runs, as
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) led off the second with a solo blast and
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale) homered in the fifth with a runner on base. Neal's home run extended the game beyond the fifth inning and forced Maryville pitcher Chayse Ramey to throw two more innings in the contest.
The Miners were outhit 15-4 in the opener.
Game 2: Miners 10, Maryville 2
The second contest was a reversal of fortunes, as it was the Miners who had the early offensive outbursts to carry them to the victory and split of the twinbill.
S&T got on the scoreboard in the opening inning when
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) reached on an error, went to second on a walk to Neal and stole third; a wild throw on the play allowed her to score. With two outs and following a walk to Wooldridge,
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV) hit her first career home run as a Miner as she hit a pitch over the fence in left center to make it 4-0.
The Miners added onto their lead in the third with three more runs, an inning that started with a hit by Viox. After Neal was hit by a pitch and the first out was recorded, Wooldridge singled to the opposite field and when the throw to the infield was wild, Viox came in to score from third. Jobson drew a walk to reload the bases in front of a sacrifice fly by
Mackenzie Shields (Kansas City, MO/Platte County) and a run-scoring single by
Chloe Saltijeral (North Aurora, Ill./Rosary).
Maryville got two runs in the fifth off S&T starter
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton), but the Miners ended the game with three runs in the bottom half of the frame. The inning opened with a hit by
Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk) and a walk to Wooldridge, then with one out, Shields singled through the hole to left to bring in pinch-runner
Isabella Welton (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West).
With two outs and the bases loaded, Rowland hit a high chopper up the middle that the Saints booted and allowed Shields and Saltijeral to cross the plate with the game-ending runs.
Rowland scattered four hits to pick up the victory as eight different Miners had hits in the second contest.
