Emporia State Hornets (2-3, 0-0 MIAA) vs.
Arkansas Tech Golden Suns (3-1, 0-0 GAC)
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 • 12:00 p.m. • Bentonville, Ark.
Series: ATU leads 4-3 Last: ESU 7, ATU 6 (2/17/17)
Harding Bison (0-0, 0-0 GAC)
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 • 2:00 p.m. • Bentonville, Ark.
Series: ESU leads 2-1 Last: HU 5, ESU 3 (2/18/17)
Missouri Western Griffons (0-0, 0-0 MIAA)
Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 • 10:00 a.m. • Bentonville, Ark.
Series: ESU leads 58-31 Last: ESU 5, MWSU 1
Arkansas-Monticello Blossoms (0-0, 0-0 GAC)
Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 • 12:00 p.m. • Bentonville, Ark.
Series: ESU leads 3-2 Last: ESU 4, UAM 2 (2/17/13)
Up Next: at UAM 9-State Classic
Feb. 16-18 • Bentonville, Ark.
TOURNAMENT TIME
Emporia State continue tournament play at the Ark.-Monticello D-II Challenge in Bentonville, Arkansas. The Hornets will face Arkansas Tech and Harding on Feb. 8 and Missouri Western and Ark.-Monticello on Feb. 9.
LAST AT BAT
Emporia State finished 2-3 at the Lubbock Sports Classic in Lubbock, Texas. The Hornets fell to Lubbock Christian, Midwestern State, and Chardron State. The Hornets' wins came against Colorado School of Mines and UT-Permian Basin.
THE COACHES
April Huddleston-Rosales is 57-61 in her third year as the head coach at Emporia State. She became head coach after having serving as an assistant for seven seasons. She was a member of both the Hornets national runner-up teams in 2006 and 2008, and was named First Team All-MIAA at shortstop her senior year.
Kristina McSweeney has a 184-105 record and is in her sixth season as head coach at Arkansas Tech.
Phil Berry is 150-91 overall and 103-55 in conference play. He is in his fifth season as head coach at Harding University.
Jen Bagley Trotter is in her 17th season as head coach at Missouri Western. She has a 573-329 career record.
Alvy Early is in his 22nd season as head coach of Arkansas-Monticello. He has a career record of 734-424-2.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 2-3 on the season after the Lubbock Sports Classic. Valerie Kinney leads the Hornets with a .500 batting average, six RBI, and a triple. Destiny Ojigoh went 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA. Montana Mesler finished the weekend going 1-1 with 12 strikeouts and two complete games pitched.
ABOUT ARKANSAS TECH
The Golden Suns started the 2018 season by going 3-1 at the Southeastern Shootout in Durant, Oklahoma. ATU leads the all-time series 4-3.
ABOUT HARDING
The Lady Bisons finished with a 58-9 record in 2017, winning the GAC Tournament Championship, and were runner ups in the NCAA D-II Central Super Regional. The Hornets lead the all-time series 2-1.
ABOUT MISSOURI WESTERN
The Griffons ended 2017 with a 38-20 record and a 16-10 record in the MIAA. This will be the 90th meeting between the two teams with Emporia State leading the series 58-31.
ABOUT ARK.-MONTICELLO
The Blossoms were 34-23 overall, 26-16 in the GAC in the 2017 season. The Hornets lead the all-time series 3-2.
UP NEXT
Emporia State will head back to Bentonville, Ark. to play in the Ark-Monticello 9-State Classic on February 16-18.
HORNET HITTING
The Hornets have a .291 batting average after five games at the Lubbock Sports Classic. Emporia State has scored 31 runs in 44 hits with five doubles, two triples, and two home runs. Valerie Kinney finished the weekend with a .500 batting average with seven hits, six RBI, and a triple. Danielle Sprinkle is hitting .353 with five RBI, two runs scored, and a home run. Hailey Cope hit .389 with two doubles, six runs scored, and went 4-4 on stolen bases. Annie Rockley scored six runs while hitting .235 with three RBI, a double, a triple, and three stolen bases.
EMPORIA STATE PITCHING
Emporia State pitching has a 6.03 ERA with 23 strikeouts, four complete games, and a .315 opponent batting average.
Kelsey Phillips is 0-2 in 12.1 innings pitched with nine strikeouts, and a complete game.
Destiny Ojigoh and Montana Mesler each picked up their first wins as Hornets in Lubbock. Ojigoh posted a 3.86 ERA, with two strikeouts, and a complete game in her first game in the circle. Mesler finished the weekend going 1-1 with 12 strikeouts, a .264 opponent batting average, and pitched two complete games.
TOURNAMENTS WITH HUDDLESTON-ROSALES
Huddleston-Rosales is 23-22 in tournament play as head coach at Emporia State. The Hornets went 4-1 at the St. Cloud Indoor Tournament and 2-2 at the Ark.-Monticello Tournament in 2016. In the 2017 season, Huddleston-Rosales went 1-4 at the Southeastern Oklahoma State Tournament, 4-2 at the ASU George McCorkle Challenge, 5-1 at the 8-States Classic and 3-3 at the St. Cloud Indoor Tournament. The Hornets went 2-3 at the Lubbock Sports Classic to open the 2018 season.
In 2017, Huddleston-Rosales made her first appearance in the MIAA Tournament as head coach, going 4-2 and finishing second, losing to #1 seed Central Oklahoma in the championship game. She led the Hornets to their first MIAA Tournament championship appearance since 2013.
SUCCESS IN MAY
Emporia State has played in 12 NCAA Tournaments with a 35-25 (.583) overall record in NCAA Tournament play. The Hornets are 20-13 in NCAA tournament elimination games all-time. Emporia State has played in 11 of the last 15 MIAA Tournament championship games with eight titles. Since 2001 the Hornets are 53-18 (.746) in MIAA Tournament play with a 52-14 (.788) record over the last 14 tournaments.
HORNET HISTORY
Emporia State has finished as the NCAA Division II National Runners-up twice, in 2006 and 2008. The Hornets have qualified for NCAA Regional play in 11 of the last 14 years and 12 times in the last 22 seasons. The Hornets won the NAIA National Championship in 1983 and 1984 and won the AIAW National Championship in 1980.
The Hornets were MIAA regular season champions four straight years from 2005-08 and MIAA Tournament champions seven straight years running from 2004-10. Emporia State has claimed the regular season title (2005-08, 2010-12, 2014) and the tournament title (2004-10, 2012) eight times each in the 21st Century.
