St. Louis – The Maryville softball team's offense exploded in the final game of the day as the Saints earned a split with Great Lakes Valley Conference foe, Missouri S&T Saturday afternoon at Weber Field. Maryville dropped the first game of the day in nine innings, 1-0 and then bounced back to win the second game of the doubleheader, 5-2.
 
In the first game of the twin bill, it was a true pitcher's duel as both Sheridon Sprague and Ashley English put on a show, keeping each team off the scoreboard until the Miners got a home run in the ninth to take the lead 1-0. Maryville had opportunities in both the sixth and seventh innings with a pair of base runners in each frame, but the Miners were able to force the Saints into fly outs to end each frame.
 
Sprague suffered the loss going nine innings while giving up a run on eight hits. Nikki Taylor had two of the Saints five hits in the game.
 
The Miners grabbed an early 2-0 lead with runs in the third and the fifth innings, but the Saints battled back as Casey Ward drew a walk to start the fifth frame. Heather Wernle entered the game to pinch run for Ward and scored on double by Ashley Marks into gap in left center to get the Saints to within a run at 2-1. Marks then moved to third on a Kelsey Martin infield single and scored as Bri Livingston lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game at 2-2. The inning continued for the Saints as Courtney Ferguson singled up the middle to score Martin and Taylor doubled to right center score Ferguson from first to give Maryville a 4-2 advantage, but the Saints were not done yet Samantha Hausl singled to left field to plate Taylor and give Maryville a 5-2 lead.
 
Taylor tossed a complete-game five hitter for the Saints to claim her 11th win of the season. The Saints pounded out 10 hits in the night cap with Hausl and Ferguson each having a pair of hits for Maryville, who improved to 19-23 and 9-13 in GLVC play.
 
The Saints hit the road for a doubleheader against Saint Joseph's College on Saturday, April 22, in Rensselaer, Ind. The first game of the series is set to begin at noon.