February 15, 2020-Emporia State went 2-0 on the first day of the Alvy Early Memorial Classic in Bentonville, Ark. on Saturday. The Hornets shutout Quincy 3-0 and defeated Henderson State 15-4.
ESU 3, Quincy 0
Sydney Righi scattered eight hits over 7.0 innings to post her first shutout of the season for the Hornets.
Emporia State opened the scoring in the second inning with an RBI single by
Brittanie Shepherd that scored
Gabby Biondo. Shepherd would come around to score on a ground out by
Cassidy Beem to give Emporia State a 2-0 lead. They tacked on another run in the third when
Rachel Kauss scored on an RBI ground out by Shepherd.
That was more than enough for Righi, whose only real threat came in the fourth inning. The Hawks loaded the bases with two outs but Righi got a comebacker to the circle that ended the threat.
ESU 15, HSU 4
The Hornets erupted for 11 runs in the final two innings of a 15-4 win over Henderson State. Emporia State took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single by
Hannah Steeby and two unearned runs when
Kerrigan Dixon reached on a two out error that plated Steeby and
Gabby Biondo.
The Reddies got on the board in the bottom of the second with a single run but Dixon singled in Biondo in the top of the third to get it back. Henderson State tied the game with three runs in the fifth before Emporia State's offense exploded in the sixth.
The Hornets got RBI singles from
Abbey Ward,
Rachel Kauss and Steeby to go up 7-4 before Biondo laced a two run double to make it 9-4. The Hornets were not done in the inning as Shepherd reached on an error that brought Biondo home and then scored on a
Cassidy Beem RBI single to make it 11-4 going to the bottom of the sixth. Dixon gave up a lead off single then retired the next three batters to send the game to the seventh. Ward hit a lead off homer to start the inning and ESU got RBI singles from Steeby, Biondo, and Beem to round out the scoring.
Gabby Giondo went five for five with four runs scored and three RBI while
Hannah Steeby was three for five with three RBI and three runs scored.
Kerrigan Dixon went the distance in the circle, allowing four runs on ten hits in 7.0 innings.
The Hornets will wrap up play in Bentonville on Sunday with games against Harding and Southwest Baptist. First pitch against Harding is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. with the SBU game to follow immediately afterwards.
