EAST PEORIA, Ill. – Missouri S&T missed on its first opportunity to reach the championship game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Softball Tournament Saturday afternoon, as the Miners lost a 2-1 heartbreaker in 12 innings to McKendree at EastSide Centre.
The victory by the Bearcats (36-21) means that S&T (25-32) and McKendree will play again Sunday morning at 10 a.m., with the winner to take on the nation's top-ranked team, Indianapolis (53-3), at 12:30 p.m. for the GLVC championship.
After S&T missed a chance to take the lead in the top of the 12
th when it had runners on the corners with one out, the Bearcats scored on a wild play to win the game in the bottom of the inning. With runners at first and second and two outs, McKendree's Sarah Roth hit a ball back up the middle off the glove of pitcher
Bryn Wooldridge (Salisbury, Mo./Salisbury) and reached base.
However, the runner on that was on first – Taylor Witges – ended up over halfway to third base which was occupied by Lauren Harris. As the Miners tried to retire Witges and threw towards second, Harris broke for home and beat the throw to score the winning run.
McKendree took the initial lead in the third inning when Heaven Lawrence doubled and ended up a third after an error, then scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Reagan Cheely. S&T tied the contest in the fourth when
Elizabeth Viox (Glen Carbon, Ill./Edwardsville) was hit by a pitch, went to second on a walk to Wooldridge and scored on a two-out hit by Natalie Caudras.
After S&T tied the score, it became a game of missed chances for both sides for the next several innings. The Miners had two on with one out in the fifth, runners in scoring position in the sixth and eighth innings and the threat in the 12
th that came up empty.
McKendree had runners in scoring position in the sixth, 10
th and 11
th innings, but its best chance prior to the 12
th came in the bottom of the seventh when it had the bases loaded with one out, but
Charlye Rowland (Pearcy, Ark./Lake Hamilton) got Harris – the leading hitter in the GLVC – on a foul out to left and Olivia Stansbury on a pop-up to short to escape the inning.
The Bearcats outhit S&T 14-7 in the contest, as Viox had three hits and Cuadras two for the Miners. Rowland pitched the first 11 innings and struck out nine before Wooldridge took over the 12
th.
