HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- The Missouri S&T softball team wrapped up a successful road trip with another doubleheader sweep Sunday, as it won a pair from Northern Kentucky by scores of 12-4 and 4-1.
The wins extended the 18-11 Lady Miners' winning streak to five games and moved them to 9-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference heading into Saturday's showdown with league leader Lewis at the S&T Softball Field.
S&T jumped on top in the opening inning of game one when Emily Tucker belted a three-run homer, then added a run in the second when an error following a hit by Rachel Wilkinson allowed Becky Davis to score.
After NKU cut the lead in half with a pair of runs off Jen O'Hara in the second, S&T put four on the board in the fourth. Kandi Wieberg started the rally with a solo homer with one out in the inning, then a hit by Wilkinson was followed by a run scoring double by Kelsey Musselman. Kristen Drage and Coley Naughton added RBIs before the inning ended.
The Norse scored twice in the bottom half of the fourth, but the Lady Miners scored four more runs in the fifth to help bring about a close to the game due to the eight-run rule. Wieberg's RBI single started the scoring, then after she stole second, Wilkinson drove her home with a hit. Drage's two-run double later in the inning closed out the scoring.
S&T had 15 hits in game one to back O'Hara, with Wieberg, Wilkinson and Tucker all getting three apiece. Tucker drove in three runs as did Drage, who had two hits along with Davis in the opener.
The Lady Miners took the lead in game two on Katie Smith's RBI single in the second, but the Norse tied the game on a squeeze bunt in the fourth. S&T answered the Norse run with three in the fifth to take the lead for good.
With two outs, Musselman and Tucker reached base with hits, then Drage ripped a three-run homer off April Ehlers to give S&T a 4-1 lead. Ashley Wallingford took care of matters from there as she pitched around a hit in the fifth and then got Stephanie West to hit into a double play to end the game in the seventh.
Drage had two of S&T's 10 hits and finished the day by driving in six runs. Wieberg and Musselman also had two hits apiece for the Lady Miners. In the circle, Wallingford recorded a season-high nine strikeouts and allowed just six hits to pick up her third straight win.
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