EAST PEORIA, IL  --  The Miners have qualified for the 2025 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship Tournament as the #7 seed and will face #2 Lewis University at 4pm tomorrow. The Miners last appeared in the tournament in the 2024 season, qualifying as a #7 seed and defeating #1 Indianapolis in the Championship to claim their first GLVC title.
 
About the Flyers
The Flyers ended the regular season 22-6 in conference, same as #1 seed Drury, only losing the top seed to the Panters on a tiebreaker. Lewis and Missouri S&T met earlier this year with the Flyers taking both of those games.
 
Lewis University remains the conference leader in pitching, just as they were last time they faced the Miners, but their earned run average has dropped from 1.88 to 2.01 since the last time they played. Delaney Garden continues to impress on both offense and defense, leading the GLVC in batting average (.465) and earned run average (1.44). Lewis' #2 pitcher Allie Wondrasek has also had a strong season, ranking second in the conference for ERA with 2.00.
 
About the Miners
After defeating the Rockhurst Hawks in a thrilling comeback to make the tournament, the Miners are primed for their 8th GLVC tournament appearance in program history. This season marks the first time that the Miners have made the tournament in back-to-back seasons since 2009-2010. The Miners closed the regular season on a hot streak to earn their spot at the championship, winning five of their last six and outscoring opponents 43-22 to end the year 14-14 in conference play.
 
Sydney Anderson (Elkhart, IA/North Polk) has continued to separate herself as one of the best batters in the conference, ranking first in the GLVC stats for slugging percentage (.824), on base + slugging percentage (1.342), and home runs (12). She also ranks in the top 8 for batting average, on base percentage, runs scored, and hits. Mia Miller (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) and Julia Kanoy (Hamilton, Mo./Penney) have been S&T's one-two punch for pitching, with Miller standing out in conference stats as sixth in batters struck out, including the third-most SO looking with 33.
 
What's Next
The tournament is double elimination, meaning a win would progress the Miners to Game 8 at 2pm on Thursday while a loss would put them in the bottom half of the bracket to play in Game 6 at 11am on Thursday.
 
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