Lady Miner softball splits with Tritons

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

ROLLA – After being shut down by Missouri-St. Louis' Allyson DeFosset in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader, Missouri S&T's Ashley Wallingford returned the favor in the nightcap to give the Lady Miners a split of the Great Lakes Valley Conference twinbill.

S&T took a 7-0 decision in the second game on Wallingford's three-hitter after DeFosset won the opener for the Tritons by a 2-0 count as she struck out 14 in a five-hit effort.

The Lady Miners got their first run of the day in the second inning of game two when Kristen Drage singled through the hole to drive in Emily Tucker, who had doubled to get the inning started. The Lady Miners loaded the bases prior to the hit by Drage and still had them loaded with nobody out, but couldn't push another run across.

However, Wallingford – who faced just two batters over the minimum -- kept the Tritons off the scoreboard and the offense gradually extended the lead until it busted the game open in the sixth.

Becca Kueny's homer to the opposite field in the fourth made it 2-0, the S&T added a run in the fifth when Kelsey Musselman scored on a wild pitch.

In the sixth, the Lady Miner outburst started with a leadoff walk to Kueny. After a sacrifice bunt, Kandi Wieberg walked and a wild pitch allowed Kueny to move to third. Wieberg stole second, then an error on a slowly hit ball by Rachel Wilkinson allowed Kueny to score.

Musselman's sacrifice fly made it 5-0, then Tucker belted a home run to left center to close the scoring.

Tucker had three of S&T's six hits in the second game.

In the first game, the Lady Miners threatened in the opening inning when Musselman and Tucker got hits with two outs, but DeFosset struck out Drage to get out of the inning.

The Tritons got all the runs they needed in the second on a two-run single by Carly Maddock with two outs in the inning. UMSL got four of its seven hits off S&T pitcher Jen O'Hara in that inning.

DeFosset set down 10 straight Lady Miners in one stretch and finished with the 14 strikeouts, getting at least one in every inning.

Coley Naughton had two of S&T's five hits in game one. O'Hara finished with five strikeouts in the circle.

The Lady Miners (20-15, 11-5 GLVC) will take a break from GLVC play over the next week as it will play in the Jennies Invitational Saturday and Sunday in Warrensburg, Mo. S&T will take on Missouri Southern at 4 p.m. and host Central Missouri at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 12 then face those teams again Sunday, April 13 at 2 and 4 p.m.

Missouri S&T will then host Drury in a non-conference doubleheader April 17 at 2 p.m. before returning to the league circuit two days later at Southern Indiana.

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No. 21 Flyers sweep Lady Miners

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

ROLLA – The Lady Miners' hope of overtaking Lewis for first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Saturday, April 5 was denied by the 21st-ranked Flyers, as the visitors swept a pair from Missouri S&T by scores of 4-3 and 6-2 at the S&T Softball Field.

With the victories, Lewis remains undefeated in GLVC play -- with doubleheader sweeps over both S&T and defending national champion SIU Edwardsville already on the docket -- while the Lady Miners drop to 18-13 overall and 9-3 in conference play.

The Flyers took advantage of S&T mistakes to get the lead in both games, but had to hold off a rally effort by the Lady Miners in the nightcap that had the sizable crowd on hand on the edge of their seats.

A two-out error in the third inning of game one allowed Lewis' All-America shortstop, Kelly Dianis, to bat and she delivered a two-run double to the fence to put the Flyers in front.

Katie Smith hit a two-out homer in the fourth to cut the lead in half, then S&T loaded the bases on consecutive hits by Coley Naughton, Becky Davis and Melissa Ruth. However, Kandi Wieberg flied out to end that threat and Lewis scored two more runs in the fifth on another RBI hit by Dianis and a squeeze bunt that scored Carla Musillo to go up 4-1.

Aside from the Smith homer in the fourth, Diana Pickrum kept the Lady Miners off the scoreboard until the seventh when S&T got a rally started with a leadoff walk to Wieberg. Rachel Wilkinson followed with a hit and Kelsey Musselman singled to right center to bring in Wieberg and bring about a pitching change.

Julie Wingerter entered the game for Pickrum but struggled with her control, walking Emily Tucker to load the bases and then throwing a wild pitch to score Wilkinson. Following the wild pitch, Wingerter was replaced by Courtney Lyons, who proceeded to walk Kristen Drage to load the bases again.

But moments later, Lyons helped herself get out of the jam by spearing a liner off Smith's bat and turning it into a double play, then got Naughton to foul out to third to end the game.

The Lady Miners had 10 hits in the opener, with Wilkinson and Smith getting two apiece. Jen O'Hara took the loss for S&T.

In game two, another early error allowed Lewis to get the lead in the early innings. With runners on second and third and one out, Kayla Smith lined out to short for the second out, but a throw to third to try and double off the runner was wild and allowed Lisa Gartland to score.

The Flyers followed that by putting three runs on the board off S&T starter Ashley Wallingford in the fourth, as Carissa Castonzo's two-run double made it 3-0 and a hit by Gartland brought in the third run of the inning.

S&T trimmed that lead in half when Naughton delivered with a two-out, two-run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Flyers kept the Lady Miners at bay with home runs off the bats of Kayla Smith to lead off the fifth and Castonzo to start off the sixth.

Naughton had two of S&T's five hits in game two.

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Lady Miner softball keeps winning

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- The Missouri S&T softball team wrapped up a successful road trip with another doubleheader sweep Sunday, March 30 as it won a pair from Northern Kentucky by scores of 12-4 and 4-1.

The wins extended the 18-11 Lady Miners' winning streak to five games and moved them to 9-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference heading into Saturday's showdown with league leader Lewis at the S&T Softball Field.

S&T jumped on top in the opening inning of game one when Emily Tucker belted a three-run homer, then added a run in the second when an error following a hit by Rachel Wilkinson allowed Becky Davis to score.

After NKU cut the lead in half with a pair of runs off Jen O'Hara in the second, S&T put four on the board in the fourth. Kandi Wieberg started the rally with a solo homer with one out in the inning, then a hit by Wilkinson was followed by a run scoring double by Kelsey Musselman. Kristen Drage and Coley Naughton added RBIs before the inning ended.

The Norse scored twice in the bottom half of the fourth, but the Lady Miners scored four more runs in the fifth to help bring about a close to the game due to the eight-run rule. Wieberg's RBI single started the scoring, then after she stole second, Wilkinson drove her home with a hit. Drage's two-run double later in the inning closed out the scoring.

S&T had 15 hits in game one to back O'Hara, with Wieberg, Wilkinson and Tucker all getting three apiece. Tucker drove in three runs as did Drage, who had two hits along with Davis in the opener.

The Lady Miners took the lead in game two on Katie Smith's RBI single in the second, but the Norse tied the game on a squeeze bunt in the fourth. S&T answered the Norse run with three in the fifth to take the lead for good.

With two outs, Musselman and Tucker reached base with hits, then Drage ripped a three-run homer off April Ehlers to give S&T a 4-1 lead. Ashley Wallingford took care of matters from there as she pitched around a hit in the fifth and then got Stephanie West to hit into a double play to end the game in the seventh.

Drage had two of S&T's 10 hits and finished the day by driving in six runs. Wieberg and Musselman also had two hits apiece for the Lady Miners. In the circle, Wallingford recorded a season-high nine strikeouts and allowed just six hits to pick up her third straight win.

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, March 29, 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.

For the third time this season, a member of the Missouri S&T softball team has been named as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's "Player of the Week" as senior second baseman Kandi Wieberg is this week's selection.

Wieberg batted .464 in eight Lady Miner contests last week, in which S&T won six including four-of-four in GLVC play over Bellarmine and Northern Kentucky. She had 13 hits in 28 at bats in the eight contests with seven runs scored, three home runs, four runs batted in from the leadoff spot in the lineup and one double.

In Sunday's doubleheader sweep at Northern Kentucky, Wieberg was five-of-seven with three runs scored and two runs batted in. She is currently hitting .384 on the season with 10 home runs and 31 runs scored.

The Lady Miners, 18-11 overall and 9-1 in the GLVC, will host conference leader Lewis Saturday, April 5, at noon at the S&T Softball Field.

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Lady Miners split with national champs

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

ROLLA – The Missouri S&T softball team had limited offensive production Saturday, March 22, against the defending national champions, but did make the most of one hit to get a split of the doubleheader with Southern Illinois Edwardsville at the S&T Softball Field.

Kelsey Musselman's three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth broke a scoreless tie in the opener and helped Missouri S&T take a 3-1 decision in the first game, while 13th-ranked SIUE took the nightcap 4-0.

The Lady Miners and Cougars were locked in a scoreless game with just five hits between them through the first five innings of game one. SIUE got runners to second and third with two outs in the sixth, but S&T pitcher Jen O'Hara induced a ground out off the bat of Lindsay Longfellow to keep the game even.

With one out in the bottom of the inning, Kassi Deibert singled past third baseman Lauren Zembruski for S&T's first hit since the first inning. Kandi Wieberg followed by drawing a walk, then the runners moved up on a ground out by Rachel Wilkinson.

The Cougars elected to pitch to Musselman with first base open and the senior third baseman belted a pitch from SIUE All-America pitcher Kaitlin Colosimo over the gate in left center to put the Lady Miners in front 3-0.

The Lady Miners had to get through a jam in the top of the seventh to lock up the win. After Mallory Ruggles hit a leadoff homer to get the Cougars on the board, Christina Signore reached with an infield hit. O'Hara got the next two hitters, then walked Zembruski on a 3-2 pitch to put the tying run on base.

However, Ashley Price was called out on strikes to end the game and give S&T its fifth win in GLVC play.

The second game took a similar pattern to the first game for the first four innings, then the Cougars broke the ice in the fifth when Zembruski blooped a two-out single to center to score Longfellow, who had doubled to open the frame.

SIUE broke the game open in the sixth by scoring three times, a rally aided by an error, to hand starter Erika Taylor a four-run lead.

Taylor held the Lady Miners hitless until two were out in the sixth, when Musselman singled through the hole between third and short. Emily Tucker followed with a hit, but Taylor got one of her 13 strikeouts to escape S&T's best scoring chance.

The Lady Miners (12-9, 5-1 GLVC) are scheduled to make a road trip to Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky during the spring break, starting with a doubleheader Tuesday at Grand Valley State.

The Lady Miners staged a late inning rally Friday afternoon to complete a sweep of their Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader over Quincy University at the S&T Softball Field, taking the games by scores of 3-2 in eight innings and 8-4.

S&T was held to three hits in the first game by Quincy's Torie Bunzell, but all three hits drove in runs and the last was a walk-off home run by Kelsey Musselman in the eighth. Musselman hit her ninth home run of the season on a 1-0 pitch as she lofted a fly ball to left that Hawk leftfielder Emly Clark went over the fence and got a glove on it, but couldn't keep it in the park as she crashed into the barrier.

The Lady Miners took the lead initially in the first inning when Emily Tucker doubled off the fence to bring home Kandi Wieberg, then after the Hawks tied it in the third, regained the lead in the bottom half when Musselman singled off Bunzell's leg to score Becky Davis.

Quincy tied the game in the sixth when Clark hit a squibber to second and beat the throw to allow Megan Corey to score with two outs. Lady Miner starter Jen O'Hara got the Lady Miners out of the inning by fanning Mary Wiedman.

In her complete game effort, O'Hara scattered 11 hits and struck out three.

Quincy took the early lead in the second game on an RBI single by Jasmyn Wentland in the first, then the Lady Miners tied the score in the bottom half of the inning when Rachel Wilkinson belted a home run to left. However, Korby Paul delivered a two-run single in the third and Missy Weaver homered with two outs in the fifth to put the Hawks up 4-1.

S&T finally solved Bunzell, who got the start in game two as well, in the bottom half of the fifth to get the game knotted up. Wieberg bunted her way on with one out and Wilkinson walked, then Musselman singled into left center to bring in Wieberg. With the runners on second and third after advancing on the throw, Tucker hit a sinking liner that fell by a diving Clark to allow both runners to score and tie the contest at four.

The Lady Miners then won the game in the sixth, which started with a leadoff walk to Melissa Ruth. Paul replaced Bunzell in the circle, but struggled with her control as after a sacrifice bunt by Davis was successful, a pair of wild pitches allowed Ruth to score.

S&T wasn't done after getting the lead, as Wieberg walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a hit by Wilkinson to give it a 6-4 lead. After Musselman was hit by a pitch, Tucker doubled into the gap to bring in the third run of the inning and another wild pitch moments later scored Musselman.

O'Hara got the win in relief as she threw 2 1/3 hitless innings with a strikeout. Tucker had three hits -- all doubles -- and three runs batted in to pace the offensive attack.

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Lady Miner softball sweeps Drury

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Lady Miner basketball team wasn't the only Missouri S&T team to leave a playing venue in this city happy on Friday, March 15.

While the basketball squad was winning its NCAA regional game over Michigan Tech, the Lady Miner softball team opened Great Lakes Valley Conference play by sweeping a doubleheader over Drury at Meador Park.

Missouri S&T banged out 15 hits, including five extra base tallies, to win 14-9 in the opener, then rallied from a four-run deficit in the nightcap to complete the sweep with a 5-4 win.

In the first game, S&T jumped out to an 8-0 lead after an inning and half, but saw Drury draw closer with a run in the second, two in the third and five in fifth that brought the Panthers within one at 9-8. However, Jen O'Hara halted the rally and the Lady Miners put the game away with a five-run seventh inning.

Kandi Wieberg had five hits in five at-bats for S&T in the contest and scored four times, while Emily Tucker, Coley Naughton and Becca Kueny all had two hits apiece. Kelsey Musselman homered in the game as well as she connected on her eighth homer of the season; she drove in three runs as did Naughton.

Drury jumped on O'Hara in game two for four runs in the first two innings to grab a 4-0 advantage. However, the Lady Miners got two runs back in the fourth, then scored three times in the sixth to take the lead.

Musselman and Kristen Drage had two hits each in game two, while Wieberg drove in two runs.

Saturday's scheduled doubleheader at Rockhurst was postponed due to the threat of rainy weather in Kansas City on Saturday. The Lady Miners' next scheduled game is their home opener next Friday against Quincy at noon.

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Lady Miner softball opens with four-game split

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

DECATUR, Ala. -- The Lady Miner softball team closed out their opening weekend with a split of its four games at the Charger Chillout, including a victory Sunday, Feb. 24 over 23rd-ranked Georgia College & State.

Missouri S&T used three home runs to knock off the Bobcats 7-4 in the first of its two games on the day, but it lost the final game of the weekend set 11-2 to West Georgia.

The Lady Miners busted open a close contest in the fifth inning with a four-run outburst with two outs. After Becky Davis led off the inning with a hit, Kandi Wieberg drew a two-out walk. Rachel Wilkinson followed the walk by hitting a three-run homer to give the Lady MIners a 5-0 lead, then Kelsey Musselman homered right after the Wilkinson blast to give S&T a six-run lead.

Coley Naughton added a solo homer in the sixth to back the pitching of Ashley Wallingford, who allowed two runs over six innings of work to get the win and improve to 2-1 on the season.

Musselman had three hits in the game, including a double, while Wilkinson had two hits.

In the West Georgia contest, S&T fell behind 6-0 after two innings of play before getting on the scoreboard with Katie Smith's RBI single in the fourth. The Lady Miners got their other run on a homer in the fifth from Wieberg, but the Wolves ended the game with a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth.

Freshman pitcher Kristen Drage took the loss for S&T, which will return to action Friday at the Arkansas-Monticello Classic.

After scoring just one run in its season opener Saturday, Feb. 23 the bats for the Missouri S&T softball team came to life in the second game of the day as the Lady Miners rallied for a 13-10 victory over Delta State at the Charger Chillout.

Earlier in the day, 15th-ranked Valdosta State handed the Lady Miners a 9-1 loss in their opener.

In the win over Delta State, S&T got on the board right away as second baseman Kandi Wieberg led off the game with a home run. Later in the inning, Kristen Drage drove home a run with a ground out to stake herself to a 2-0 lead.

The Lady Miners then exploded for five runs in the second, all of them coming with two outs. Back-to-back hits from Becky Davis and Becca Kueny opened the frame, then Rachel Wilkinson singled after the next two batters were retired to bring home Davis. After Kelsey Musselman was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Emily Tucker drew a walk to bring home the second run of the inning.

Drage was walked to score another run, then Coley Naughton singled home two more runs to give S&T a 7-0 lead.

The Statesmen got three runs back in the third, then after Musselman homered in the top of the fourth to make it 8-3, Delta State knocked Drage out of the game with a seven-run outburst in its half of the inning.

The Lady Miners came back in the fifth with another rally that started with two outs to get the lead back. After the first two hitters were retired, pinch-hitter Katie Smith singled and Wieberg drew a walk. Wilkinson followed with a run-scoring double to bring S&T to within one, then back-to-back RBI singles by Musselman and Tucker gave the Lady Miners an 11-10 lead.

S&T added two insurance runs in the seventh on an RBI double by Wilkinson and an run-scoring hit by Tucker.

Wilkinson and Tucker had three hits and three runs batted in during the contest; the Lady Miners had 17 hits as a team. Ashley Wallingford, who entered the game in relief in the fourth, got the victory in the circle.

In the earlier game, Valdosta State tagged Wallingford for a run in the third, then scored six times in the fourth to take control of the contest. The big blow in the inning was Alex Acosta's grand slam, one of four home runs hit by the Blazers.

The Lady Miners got their only run on a solo homer by Naughton to lead off the fourth, one of her three hits in the game. Tucker had two hits for the Lady Miners as well.

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Lady Miner softball 3^rd in GLVC poll

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

ROLLA -- The Missouri University Science & Technology (formerly Missouri-Rolla) softball team, a few months removed from its first appearance ever at the NCAA Division II Tournament, has been picked to finish third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference for the upcoming 2008 season.

The Lady Miners, led by All-America St. Elizabeth native Kandi Wieberg, finished third in both the regular season race and conference tournament a year ago in the GLVC. They were picked behind only defending NCAA Division II champion Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Lewis, the two teams that finished ahead of them in the league standings last season.

The Lady Miners split two games with SIUE and won three of four from Lewis a year ago, including a victory in the opening round of the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.

S&T was 29-18 a year ago and returns a large portion of that team, including All-America second baseman Wieberg, the GLVC's "Player of the Year" in 2007, all-region outfielder Emily Tucker and honorable mention all-GLVC pitcher Jen O'Hara.

The Lady Miners will open the 2008 season Feb. 22 at the Charger Chillout in Huntsville, Ala., against Alabama-Huntsville. S&T's first GLVC contest will take place March 14 at Drury.

1. Southern Illinois Edwardsville

2. Lewis

4. Southern Indiana

5. Quincy

6. Wisconsin-Parkside

7. (tie) Northern Kentucky

7. (tie) Saint Joseph's

9. Indianapolis

10. Missouri-St. Louis

11. Kentucky Wesleyan

12. Bellarmine

13. Drury

14. Rockhurst

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