Ashley Winter

The Lady Miners got plenty of hitting Sunday afternoon as they swept a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader from Kentucky Wesleyan at the UMR Softball Field.

With a total of 23 hits in the two games, UMR posted victories by scores of 5-1 in the opener and 9-1 in a second game that was called in the bottom of the sixth due to the eight-run rule.

UMR grabbed the early lead in game one as it scored twice in the opening inning. A leadoff double by Kandi Wieberg was followed by a bunt single by Ashley Winter. Winter stole second and when the throw sailed into center field, Wieberg came in to score. Winter later scored on a hit by Emily Tucker.

Solo home runs by Kelsey Musselman in the third and Coley Naughton to lead off the fourth gave UMR a 4-0 lead.

Jen O'Hara pitched around trouble throughout the first three innings in particular, but still had a shutout until the sixth when Haleigh Ashworth's two-out double scored Erin Bradley. UMR got that run back in the bottom half of the inning when Wieberg delivered a two-out RBI single.

O'Hara gave up nine hits -- but only three after the third inning -- to improve her record to 9-5 on the season. UMR had 12 hits in game one, with four different players getting two hits apiece.

The Lady Miners fell behind in the nightcap as the Panthers put an unearned run across in the third. With runners on second and third, Kaley Wethington lined out, but a throw to second to try and double off a runner was dropped which allowed Bradley to score from third.

UMR bounced back and scored three times in the bottom half of that frame, which started with Becky Davis' infield hit.

After a hit by Wieberg, Winter brought home the tying run with a single to right and stole second. A throwing error allowed Musselman to reach and load the bases, then Rachel Wilkninson blooped a single to left to score Wieberg. A sacrifice fly by Tucker scored the third run of the inning.

While Ashley Wallingford was able to shut down any Panther threats to score, the Lady Miners put the game away with a six-run sixth inning.

With the bases loaded and one out, Davis singled through a drawn-in infield to make it 4-1. A sacrifice fly by Plummer extended the lead to 5-1, then Wieberg doubled home a run and Winter singled home two more.

After Musselman doubled into the left field corner, Wilkinson ended the game with a single to left to score Winter with the Lady Miners' sixth run of the inning.

Winter had three hits and three runs batted in during game two, while Wieberg, Wilkinson and Davis had two hits each.

Wallingford improved her record to 4-1 as she gave up just four hits in six innings.

UMR (13-6, 4-2 GLVC) will host Truman State Thursday at 1 p.m. at the UMR Softball Field.