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| Krista Porterfield |
The Missouri S&T softball team rebounded from dropping a pair to Great Lakes Valley Conference leader Lewis to gain a split of Sunday's twinbill with Wisconsin-Parkside at the S&T Softball Field, winning the opener 4-3 but dropping game two by a count of 6-2.
The Lady Miners came out of weekend in a tie for second place in the conference with Southern Indiana, as the Eagles won three of four including a sweep Sunday over Northern Kentucky. Both teams are 10-4 in league play and trail Lewis, who is 9-1 in the GLVC.
S&T was able to take advantage of some wildness by Ranger pitcher Meagan Shimkus to win the first game, as she walked five batters and threw five wild pitches -- all of which came in the two innings that the Lady Miners scored in.
The Lady Miners took the lead in the third and a walk to Kassi Deibert with one out got the rally started. Deibert moved to second on the first wild pitch, then Kandi Wieberg drew a walk. Another wild pitch moved the runners up to second and third for Rachel Wilkinson, who delivered a sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Krista Porterfield to give S&T the lead. Kelsey Musselman singled home Wieberg, then after moving up on another Shimkus wild pitch, scored on Emily Tucker's double into the left field corner.
Wisconsin-Parkside loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth against Jen O'Hara, but the Lady Miners cut down two runners at the plate on ground balls to keep the shutout intact. O'Hara got another ground ball that could have got the Lady Miners out of the inning, but a wild throw allowed two runs to score.
The Rangers tied the game in the sixth when Lisa Casey scored on a passed ball, but the Lady Miners were able to string together a rally to get the lead back in the bottom half of the frame.
After Kristen Drage was retired to start the inning, S&T got hits from Katie Smith and Coley Naughton before Deibert drew a two-out walk. With Wieberg at the plate, Shimkus fired a pitch over the head of catcher Krista Kelly which allowed Smith to score the go-ahead run.
Given the lead back, O'Hara completed her five-hitter by retiring the Rangers in order in the seventh to improve her record to 9-2 on the season. Musselman had two of S&T's six hits in the opener.
In the nightcap, the Rangers scored single runs in each of the first two innings, then added three in the third and one in the sixth before S&T mounted its best offensive threat of the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Musselman led off with a single, then after she was forced at second, Drage got a hit and Deibert followed with one as well to bring in Tucker. A walk to Naughton loaded the bases and Smith drew a two-out walk to force in a run and cut the lead to 6-2. However, UWP pitcher Jessica Bryant got Wieberg -- at the plate representing the tying run -- to fly out to end the rally.
Bryant held S&T to six hits in the second game; Ashley Wallingford took the loss for the Lady Miners.
S&T (19-14, 10-4 GLVC) returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Missouri-St. Louis in GLVC play in a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
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