East Peoria, Ill. – The Missouri S&T softball team put forth a commendable post-season performance as the Miners finished their run in the 2018 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Championship Tournament with a 9-5 loss to Indianapolis this Friday (May 4) afternoon at the EastSide Centre.
 
With the setback, Missouri S&T completes its tourney play with a 2-2 mark and concludes its 2018 season at 27-27 overall.  Indianapolis, which upped its overall record to 39-17 this spring, will now take on Missouri-St. Louis later today in an elimination-round contest.
 
Back-to-back run-scoring doubles by a pair of juniors, second baseman Hannah Franceschini (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) and catcher Lauren King (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt North), in the top of the second inning put the Miners on top 2-0.  Junior first baseman Gretchen Egly (Joliet, Ill./Plainfield Central) lead off with a single and with two outs, Franceschini belted a two-base hit into the left center field gap to score Egly.  King then belted a full-count pitch from UIndy starter Halie Waters past third baseman Taylor Podschweit down the left field line to bring home Franceschini with S&T's second run of the game.
 
However, the eighth-seed Miners' lead was short-lived as UIndy responded in the bottom of the second frame with a seven-run output on eight hits.  A grand-slam home run off the bat of Julie Liceaga  plated four Greyhound runs while a sacrifice fly from Podschweit, a RBI single by Haylie Foster, and a Shannon Schuetz two-base hit accounted for the other three UIndy runs.
 
A two-run home run from sophomore outfielder Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township) in the top of the third inning closed S&T's deficit to two runs at 7-5.  The round-tripper by Young represented her 14th of this season to equal Kelsey Musselman's (2008) school single-season record.  Young did etch her name into S&T's record book in RBIs with 58 total this campaign, eclipsing Holly Weinberg's 56 RBIs in 2006.  The Miners' first run in the inning occurred when senior third baseman Monica Weiss (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) doubled to lead off and advanced to third base on a sophomore shortstop Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) single.  Weiss then plated a run on an UIndy passed ball before Young stepped up and hammered the ball over the right field fence.
 
The Greyhounds wrapped up the game's scoring in the last of the fourth with two runs on three hits. Two consecutive singles to start put UIndy into scoring position and after two outs, Gianni Iannantone singled in a pair of Greyhound runs as the tourney's third-seed team increased its lead to 9-5.  
 
Missouri S&T was never able to get anything going in the final three innings as the Miners were limited to one hit.  Olivia Young (Milstadt, Ill./Belleville Township), who along with Abby Klein (Kansas City, MO/Staley) tallied a team-leading two hits each, singled to right field in the top of the fifth inning to account for S&T's only hit in the last three frames.
 
Indianapolis, which outhit the Miners 14-8 for the game, had five players with two hits apiece.  The Miners would leave five runners on the bases and UIndy stranded six.
 
Senior pitcher Kati Viets (Sweet Springs, Mo./Sweet Springs) started for S&T and threw the first 1.2 innings as she allowed seven runs on eight hits in taking the loss.  Viets, who posted a 9-12 mark in the circle this season, gave way to sophomore Avery English (Carterville, Ill./Carterville) in the second inning.  English's line was six hits, two runs, and three strikeouts in the final 4.1 innings.  UIndy Halie Waters turned in a complete game as she fanned nine, walked three, scattered eight hits, and allowed five runs in seven innings of work as her season record stands at 9-6. 
 
The Miners were 11-10 at home, 13-9 on the road, and 3-8 at neutral sites for the 2018 season while registering a 14-14 GLVC ledger.