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| Kelsey Musselman |
The Lady Miners staged a late inning rally Friday afternoon to complete a sweep of their Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader over Quincy University at the S&T Softball Field, taking the games by scores of 3-2 in eight innings and 8-4.
S&T was held to three hits in the first game by Quincy's Torie Bunzell, but all three hits drove in runs and the last was a walk-off home run by Kelsey Musselman in the eighth. Musselman hit her ninth home run of the season on a 1-0 pitch as she lofted a fly ball to left that Hawk leftfielder Emly Clark went over the fence and got a glove on it, but couldn't keep it in the park as she crashed into the barrier.
The Lady Miners took the lead initially in the first inning when Emily Tucker doubled off the fence to bring home Kandi Wieberg, then after the Hawks tied it in the third, regained the lead in the bottom half when Musselman singled off Bunzell's leg to score Becky Davis.
Quincy tied the game in the sixth when Clark hit a squibber to second and beat the throw to allow Megan Corey to score with two outs. Lady Miner starter Jen O'Hara got the Lady Miners out of the inning by fanning Mary Wiedman.
In her complete game effort, O'Hara scattered 11 hits and struck out three.
Quincy took the early lead in the second game on an RBI single by Jasmyn Wentland in the first, then the Lady Miners tied the score in the bottom half of the inning when Rachel Wilkinson belted a home run to left. However, Korby Paul delivered a two-run single in the third and Missy Weaver homered with two outs in the fifth to put the Hawks up 4-1.
S&T finally solved Bunzell, who got the start in game two as well, in the bottom half of the fifth to get the game knotted up. Wieberg bunted her way on with one out and Wilkinson walked, then Musselman singled into left center to bring in Wieberg. With the runners on second and third after advancing on the throw, Tucker hit a sinking liner that fell by a diving Clark to allow both runners to score and tie the contest at four.
The Lady Miners then won the game in the sixth, which started with a leadoff walk to Melissa Ruth. Paul replaced Bunzell in the circle, but struggled with her control as after a sacrifice bunt by Davis was successful, a pair of wild pitches allowed Ruth to score.
S&T wasn't done after getting the lead, as Wieberg walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a hit by Wilkinson to give it a 6-4 lead. After Musselman was hit by a pitch, Tucker doubled into the gap to bring in the third run of the inning and another wild pitch moments later scored Musselman.
O'Hara got the win in relief as she threw 2 1/3 hitless innings with a strikeout. Tucker had three hits -- all doubles -- and three runs batted in to pace the offensive attack.
The Lady Miners improved to 11-8 overall and 4-0 in the GLVC with defending NCAA Division II champion Southern Illinois Edwardsville paying a visit to the S&T Softball Field Saturday afternoon. The twinbill between the Lady Miners and Cougars (18-6, 0-2 GLVC) will get underway at noon.
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