EAST PEORIA, Ill. – The Lady Miners’ run at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament came to an end Saturday evening when Lewis scored four times in the top of the seventh to break a tie and beat UMR 6-2.
Mallory Paine’s bloop single over the head of first baseman Rachel Wilkinson scored Beth Shelus with the go-ahead run, then the Flyers added three more runs before the inning ended to end UMR’s run in the tournament.
The Lady Miners finished third in the event and now await word from the NCAA as to whether or not they will receive an at-large bid to the Great Lakes Regional that starts Thursday at Lewis. The selections will be announced Monday.
UMR got a lead in the contest right from the start when Kandi Wieberg homered to lead off the first. However, the Lady Miners didn’t get another baserunner until the fourth, after Lewis had tied the score.
Christina Willis’ two-out RBI single in the second drove in Carla Musillo, who had led off the frame with a triple.
Ashley Winter’s leadoff double that fell in between two Lewis players set up the Lady Miners in the fourth, but after an intentional walk to Kelsey Musselman, Julie Wingerter nearly pitched out of the inning.
But with two outs, shortstop Kelly Dianis couldn’t come up with Lauren Feltmann’s grounder, allowing Winter to come around to score.
Lewis answered the UMR run when Dianis singled through the hole to score Beth Shelus in the fifth.
UMR was held to two hits by Wingerter and had no baserunners after Feltmann had reached on the error in the fourth. The Lady Miners finished the GLVC Tournament with a record of 28-16.
MUSSELMAN'S BIG GAME KEEPS LADY MINERS ROLLING IN TOURNEY
Kelsey Musselman has played a lot of games at Eastside Centre, but may have never had a game there like the one she had Saturday.
Musselman recorded the first three home run game in school history Saturday afternoon, leading the Lady Miners to a 6-2 victory over Southern Indiana in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.
All three of the home runs came with two outs.
UMR (28-15) now awaits the loser of the Lewis-SIU Edwardsville game, which it will play at 5 p.m. A win in that game would send the Lady Miners to Sunday’s championship game.
The Lady Miners grabbed the early lead – scoring in the first inning for the third time in four tournament games – when Musselman belted her first homer of the day.
However, the Screaming Eagles tied the score in the bottom half of the first, loading the bases and getting the tying run home when Ally McKinley was thrown out at first from right field.
Musselman put the Lady Miners back in front in the third, after Ashley Winter reached on a two-out single and stole second. The junior shortstop blasted a full count pitch over the fence in left center to put UMR up 3-1.
Two innings later, Musselman belted her third homer of the contest. Winter again reached base with two outs when she doubled down the left field line; a wild throw allowed her to reach third. USI’s Amy Harrison pitched to Musselman despite having first and second open, but left a pitch out over the plate that she hit out to right center.
After getting the extended lead, Lady Miner pitcher Jen O’Hara settled in and retired the Screaming Eagles in order in the fifth and sixth innings. She finished the game by getting pinch-hitter Nikki Nichols to hit into a double play.
UMR tacked on another run in the seventh when Winter drove in Becky Davis with a two-out single.
The Lady Miners finished with nine hits, as Winter had three hits in the game as well.
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