ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's softball team picked up a pair of critical Great Lakes Valley Conference wins Saturday afternoon at the S&T Softball Field as it downed Missouri-St. Louis by identical 2-1 scores.
The Miners scored twice in the fifth inning to overcome a one-run deficit to take the opener, then got an RBI single from
Ty Neal (Enid, OK/Kremlin-Hilldale) in the bottom of the sixth in the nightcap to break a tie and complete the sweep.
Missouri S&T, who improved to 18-20 overall and 9-5 in the GLVC with the two wins, will host McKendree Sunday in a noon doubleheader at the S&T Softball Field.
Game 1: Miners 2, Missouri-St. Louis 1
UMSL (17-21, 4-8 GLVC) grabbed the lead in the first game when Courtney Settles drove in May Pasqualini, then the Miners missed a good scoring opportunity in the fourth when they had runners at second and third with nobody out and were unable to score.
S&T did break through, however, with an uprising in the fifth after the first two hitters were retired.
Baylee Jobson (Marceline, Mo./Marceline RV) drew a walk and stole second, which was followed by a hit off the bat of
Trista Grobe (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) that scored Jobson. Grobe took second on the throw, then went to third when
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) reached on an infield single and scored when
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) reached on an error.
Wooldridge went to the circle after getting the lead and completed the victory as she pitched around a two-out hit, ending the game with six strikeouts as she scattered five hits.
The Miners had four hits themselves in game one, which came from Grobe, Viox, Wooldridge and
Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk).
Game 2: Miners 2, Missouri-St. Louis 1
The MIners got the early lead in the second game, scoring in the opening inning as Viox reached second on a dropped fly ball and came in to score on an opposite field single by Wooldridge. The Tritons evened things up in the third when Pasqualini's fielder's choice scored Katie Schaake, but S&T starter
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) shut things down from there in that inning and pitched around jams in the next three innings to keep the game tied.
S&T had two runners on base with one out in the fourth but couldn't score, but broke the tie in the sixth after Wooldridge led off the inning with a double off the fence in left. With one out, Neal slapped a single up the middle and pinch-runner
Emma Vaughn (Pevely, Mo./Herculaneum) beat the tag at the plate to score the go-ahead run.
Rowland pitched around a walk and a two-out double to finish the contest, ending it when she got Simia Spahuev – who already had three hits in the game – to line out to short.
The Tritons outhit S&T 6-5 in the game, but Rowland earned her seventh win of the season as she fanned seven hitters in the contest.
