The Lady Miner softball team had limited offensive production Saturday against the defending national champions, but did make the most of one hit to get a split of the doubleheader with Southern Illinois Edwardsville at the S&T Softball Field.
Kelsey Musselman's three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth broke a scoreless tie in the opener and helped Missouri S&T take a 3-1 decision in the first game, while 13th-ranked SIUE took the nightcap 4-0.
The Lady Miners and Cougars were locked in a scoreless game with just five hits between them through the first five innings of game one. SIUE got runners to second and third with two outs in the sixth, but S&T pitcher Jen O'Hara induced a ground out off the bat of Lindsay Longfellow to keep the game even.
With one out in the bottom of the inning, Kassi Deibert singled past third baseman Lauren Zembruski for S&T's first hit since the first inning. Kandi Wieberg followed by drawing a walk, then the runners moved up on a ground out by Rachel Wilkinson.
The Cougars elected to pitch to Musselman with first base open and the senior third baseman belted a pitch from SIUE All-America pitcher Kaitlin Colosimo over the gate in left center to put the Lady Miners in front 3-0.
The Lady Miners had to get through a jam in the top of the seventh to lock up the win. After Mallory Ruggles hit a leadoff homer to get the Cougars on the board, Christina Signore reached with an infield hit. O'Hara got the next two hitters, then walked Zembruski on a 3-2 pitch to put the tying run on base.
However, Ashley Price was called out on strikes to end the game and give S&T its fifth win in GLVC play.
The second game took a similar pattern to the first game for the first four innings, then the Cougars broke the ice in the fifth when Zembruski blooped a two-out single to center to score Longfellow, who had doubled to open the frame.
SIUE broke the game open in the sixth by scoring three times, a rally aided by an error, to hand starter Erika Taylor a four-run lead.
Taylor held the Lady Miners hitless until two were out in the sixth, when Musselman singled through the hole between third and short. Emily Tucker followed with a hit, but Taylor got one of her 13 strikeouts to escape S&T's best scoring chance.
The Lady Miners (12-9, 5-1 GLVC) are scheduled to make a road trip to Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky during the spring break, starting with a doubleheader Tuesday at Grand Valley State.
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