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| Kristen Drage |
The front half of Senior Day at the Missouri S&T Softball Field belonged to the four Lady Miner seniors, but the younger players took center stage to help S&T secure a doubleheader sweep Sunday afternoon over Saint Joseph's.
The Lady Miners broke up a tie game with a five-run outburst in the sixth inning of the opener to come away with a 7-2 win, then scored runs in the sixth and seventh innings of the nightcap to win 4-3 on Kristen Drage's RBI single in the seventh inning.
By virtue of sweeping the doubleheader, the Lady Miners landed the No. 3 seed for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament that begins Thursday in East Peoria, Ill. S&T will face No. 6 seed Rockhurst in the opening round at 10 a.m. Thursday.
S&T jumped in front right from the start Sunday, getting consecutive hits from Kandi Wieberg, Rachel Wilkinson and Kelsey Musselman to get on the scoreboard. After a ground out by Kassi Deibert, Katie Smith sliced a single to right to extend the Lady Miner lead to 2-0.
The Pumas tied the score in the third when Jessie Privett and Ashley Reed got two-out RBI singles. The score remained that way until the sixth when the Lady Miners forged a rally that started with an error by Privett that allowed Becca Kueny to reach base.
Becky Davis reached with an infield single, then another error on Allison Plummer's bunt by Privett loaded the bases. Wieberg, one of the four seniors playing their final home game Sunday, looped a hit to center to break the tie.
After Privett got Wilkinson to hit into a fielder choice where the out was made at the plate, Musselman blasted a grand slam over the fence in center to bust the game open. The home run was the 13th of the season for the S&T third baseman, which ties the single season mark set by Holly Weinberg two years ago.
Jen O'Hara got the win for S&T as she scattered five hits and struck out four to improve to 11-7 on the year. The four seniors -- Wieberg, Wilkinson, Musselman and Kueny -- combined for eight of the team's 11 hits, with Musselman getting three of them and driving in five runs.
The Lady Miners jumped on top in game two as well, scoring twice off Sara Somogyi in the third. After a one-out walk to Davis and a sacrifice bunt, Wieberg hit a ball the other way that landed between the second baseman and rightfielder for an RBI double.
Moments later, Wieberg scored when she stole third and came home when the throw went past the third baseman.
But the Pumas got a run back in the fourth and took the lead in the sixth, as Privett doubled home the tying run and the go-ahead tally came on a wild pitch. S&T evened the score in the bottom half when Wilkinson led off with a double into the gap and Musselman singled through the hole between third and short to bring her home.
Ashley Wallingford pitched out of trouble in the seventh as the Pumas got two runners on base, then the bottom of the Lady Miner order set the table for the game-winning run.
Davis bunted her way on to open the inning, then Plummer hit a ball towards third that the Pumas had no play on. With the winning run at second, Somogyi got two strikeouts before walking Musselman to load the bases for Drage. The Lady Miner freshman went through a 15-pitch battle with the Puma hurler, fouling off 11 pitches during the course of the at-bat before grounding a single past a diving Theresa Weinzerl to end the game.
S&T, now 26-19 on the season, had six hits in game two. Wallingford gave up seven hits and struck out five to get her 13th victory of the year.
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