May 13, 2018-Emporia State's storybook season came to an end in the NCAA Division II Central Region ! Championship game on Sunday in Winona, Minn. The unranked and eighth seeded Hornets fell 9-1 to #25 Minnesota-Duluth in the "if necessary" game.
Emporia State had won the first two games of the regional, defeating top seeded and 5
th ranked nationally Winona State 3-1 in the first round and taking out UMD 1-0 in the second round. The Hornets fell 4-3 to the Bulldogs in the first championship game on Saturday, setting up the final game on Sunday.
UMD got on the board first with a three run home run by Jordyn Thomas. Danielle Sprinkle got the Hornets on the board with a lead off single in the bottom of the second inning. McKenna Davis was then hit by a pitch and Caitlin VanVleck singled to give ESU two on with no one out in the inning. The Bulldogs were able to get out of the jam thanks to a fielder's choice, strike out and fly out to keep the score at 3-1 after two innings.
The Bulldogs answered with back to back home runs by Hannah Schmoll and Natalie Wright to take a 5-1 lead. After a Hornet error Thomas hit her second home run of the game to make it 7-1 in top of the third.
The Hornets got runners on base in each of the next three innings but could not get a run across. UMD went up 8-1 thanks to an RBI double by Sammi Sadler in the top of the sixth. Schmoll then singled to plate Lauren Greeder but VanVleck gunned down Sadler trying to score to keep the Hornets within 9-1. Needing one run to keep playing, Emporia State was retired in order to send the Bulldogs on to the Super Regional against Southern Arkansas next weekend.
Annie Rockley was two for three for the Hornets while Sprinkle went one for three with a solo home run. Katy Rae Nordman had a double for Emporia State. Montana Messler, who had gone 3-0 with a 0.27 ERA over her previous five games, suffered her first loss of the post season. She gave up seven runs, six of them earned, on five hits with just one walk and three strikeouts in 2.0 innings. Mackenzie Thornton worked the last 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on four hits.
The Hornets end the season 30-31 after winning 16 of their final 19 games. They advanced to the Regional championship game for the ninth time in school history and first since 2014.
