Ashley Wallingford

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Missouri S&T softball team got two strong pitching performances -- including the team's first no-hitter in three seasons -- to win a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference games Saturday at Bellarmine.

Jen O'Hara threw a three-hit shutout to give the Lady Miners a 1-0 win in eight innings in the opener, then Ashley Wallingford followed by throwing a no-hitter in the nightcap to complete the sweep as S&T blasted the Knights 13-0 in game two.

O'Hara was locked in a pitcher's dual with Bellarmine's Casey Willard in the opener, as the teams traded zeroes for the first seven innings. The Lady Miners missed a good scoring chance in the fourth with two on and nobody out, but couldn't advance the runners beyond first and second.

Meanwhile, the Knights had just five baserunners in the first seven innings, but only one of those runners made it as far as second.

In the eighth, Wallingford came up as a pinch-hitter and reached on an error. Another error on a ball hit by Kandi Wieberg put runners on first and third, then an infield single by Rachel Wilkinson loaded the bases. Kelsey Musselman followed by breaking up the scoreless game with a hit to left to bring in Wallingford.

O'Hara hit a batter with one out in the eighth, but got two ground balls to finish off the three-hit shutout.

Wilkinson and Musselman had three hits apiece and Becca Kueny added two for S&T in game one.

The Lady Miners wasted no time in getting the lead in game two against Willard, as Wieberg led off the game with a home run to put S&T ahead. Later in the inning, Emily Tucker delivered an RBI single to put the Lady Miners up by two.

S&T added three more runs in the third on run scoring hits by Kassi Deibert and Kueny and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Coley Naughton, then the Lady Miners busted the game wide open with eight runs in the fifth.

Wieberg hit her second home run of the game to start the scoring, then Musselman belted her league-leading 11th homer two batters later. Krista Porterfield and Wilkinson also delivered hits that scored two runs apiece during a frame in which the Lady Miners sent 13 batters to the plate.

In the meantime, Wallingford was mowing down the Knights as just one runner reached base in five innings; that hitter reached on a two-out error in the third.

Wallingford's no-hitter was the first by a Lady Miner pitcher since Renee Roberts threw one against Northern State on March 11, 2005. The Lady Miners' doubleheader sweep by shutout was the first of its kind since March 16, 2006 against Minnesota-Crookston.

S&T (16-11, 7-1 GLVC) will play at Northern Kentucky Sunday.