East Peoria, Ill. – A double by
Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) in the bottom of the sixth inning proved the decisive hit as the Missouri S&T softball team continued on its winning path at the 2018 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Softball Championship Tournament this Friday (May 4) morning with a 4-2 victory over nationally 25th-ranked McKendree in elimination bracket play at the EastSide Centre.
Missouri S&T, which improved its record to 27-26 overall with the win, will now take on tourney third-seed Indianapolis this afternoon in a 3 p.m. (CT) elimination game matchup. The Greyhounds advanced by eliminating number one seed Illinois Springfield, 2-0 , on a no hitter by UI's Lauren Honkomp.
The eighth-seed Miners claimed an early 1-0 lead over the second-seed Bearcats in the bottom of the second inning when junior second baseman
Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) started off the frame with a solo home run to center field. S&T then placed runners at all three bases with no outs, but a force out at home proceeded by an infield pop up and a strikeout ended the scoring threat. An inning earlier, S&T had another opportunity to score as the Miners loaded the bases with just one out, but were unable to capitalize with a force out at home and then the third out on a fielder's choice.
The Miners picked up their second run of the game in the third inning as sophomore catcher
Lauren King (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt North)'s two-out infield single scored junior outfielder
Carley Hamann (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way North), who walked to lead off the inning. In the top of the fourth, McKendree narrowed the gap to 2-1 as Caitlyn Lowry smacked a solo homer to left center to begin the inning but S&T prevented the Bearcats from adding to their run total with two runners on as a result of a force out at home and a strikeout by sophomore pitcher
Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville).
McKendree, who fell to 38-16 overall this season with the loss, pulled into a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth inning as Shelby Summer singled with two outs to bring home Caitlyn Lowry with the game-tying run. But, the Miners were able to secure the third out on an infield groundout to preserve the deadlock.
The decisive sixth inning saw S&T start out with a single from junior outfielder
Courtney Jackson (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) and a McKendree fielding error allowed senior third baseman
Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) to safely reach base, moving Jackson to second.
Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) then took a 1-1 pitch from Bearcat starter Miranda Gajewski to left center field allowing Jackson to score. Weiss, who advanced to third on Klein's two-base hit, would tally an insurance run for S&T as sophomore outfielder
Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) bounced out to second and in the process recorded her school-record single-season tying 56
thRBI this spring. Young is currently tied with Holly Weinberg (2006) on S&T's all-time season RBI leaders list. McKendree put a runner on base with two outs in the seventh via a single, but cleanup hitter Brooke Gajewski lined out to English for the contest's final out.
For S&T, English allowed nine hits and two runs while striking out three and walking one in upping her season record to 18-13. Miranda Gajewski tossed six innings and also gave up nine hits while garnering two strikeouts and walking three McKendree batters.
Courtney Jackson (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) paced S&T with three hits in as many at bats while
Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) and
Lauren King (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt North) compiled two hits apiece. The Miners left 10 runners on base in the game while the Bearcats stranded eight baserunners.
