Senior Day Sweep: Emporia State Softball takes two from Fort Hays State

April 8, 2023-Emporia State took both ends of a double header against Fort Hays State to run their winning streak to six games and give head coach April Rosales her 200^th career win. The Hornets won game one 4-3 and then cruised to a 6-0 win in game two.
 
Game One
Sydney Righi was perfect through the first four innings and Haley Garnett hit a three run homer to propel Emporia State to a 4-3 win over Fort Hays State in the matinee.
After not recording an out in her start on Friday, Righi was sharp and efficient to start out on Saturday. She used just 38 pitches through the first four innings and only allowed one Tiger batter to get to three balls. 
The Hornets got on the board first in the bottom of the first. Ari Cordova singled through the left side, then stole second and went to third when the ball got away from the second baseman. With two outs Lexi Williams laced a double to left to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers tied things in the top of the fifth. Regan Curry led off with a walk and went to second on Carly Stuke's single. A sac bunt advanced them and Lilliana Ramirez-Johnson got a run home on a sac fly. Emporia State answered in the bottom of the frame.  McKensy Glass led off with a walk and Roni Raines was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. With two outs Haley Garnett homered off the left field foul pole to give the Hornets a 4-1 lead.
Fort Hays State made things interesting in the top of the seventh. The first three batters all reached thanks to an error and two singles, the last of them by Madison Pierce to drive in a run. Another single loaded the bases before Adysen Burghart hit a sac fly to cut the Hornet lead to 4-3. With pinch runner Sydnee Hoffman on third Aubrey Martinez hit a grounder to second and McKensy Glass threw home to get the Hoffman trying to score. Another infield single loaded the bases before Righi got Sarah Tiffany to ground out to short and end the game.
Four Hornets had one hit each with Haley Garnett's three run home run being the difference.  Sydney Righi went the distance in the circle, scattering six hits with just one walk and two strikeouts while allowing three runs, two of them earned.
 
Game Two
Emporia State matched their longest winning streak of the year, taking a 6-0 win the nightcap for their sixth straight win.
The Hornets took advantage of a walk and two errors to score the first run of the game in the bottom of the first. With two outs Haley Garnett walked and stole second.  Abbey Ward then hit a comebacker to the circle that Tiger pitcher Bailey Carlson could not handle. When she finally got the ball she tried to come home but the ball got away from the catcher as Garnett scored and Ward made it all the way to third base.
Emporia State added three more runs in the bottom of the second, with the runs again scoring with two outs. McKensy Glass and Alexis Dial singled and Roni Raines was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases. Ari Cordova followed with a two run single to center field to give Emporia State a 3-1 lead.  Cordova then stole second to put runners at second and third before Raines scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 Emporia State.
After a scoreless third inning, Glass led off the fourth with a triple to left field.  Gracie Rabe walked and was replaced by pinch runner Savanna Schenkel, who promptly stole second.  Alexis Dial made it 5-0 with an RBI ground out before Raines singled to right to plate Schenkel and give Emporia State a 6-0 lead.
Senior Hannah Norquest came on in relief of Rabe to start the seventh inning. After a lead off walk she retired the next three batters, the last on a strikeout to end the Senior Day contest.
McKensy Glass went three for three with two runs scored while Ari Cordova had two RBI for Emporia State. Gracie Rabe tossed 6.0 shutout innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out six.
 
Emporia State will step back out of conference play on Wednesday when they play host to Rockhurst.  First pitch of the double header is set for 3:00 p.m. at the Trusler Sports Complex.
 
NOTES
With the victory in game two head coach April Rosales recorded her 200^th career win at Emporia State.
With five stolen bases on the day, Emporia State moved up to fourth on their single season team stolen base list with 124 in 40 games.  The top three Hornet teams on the list all played at least 55 games.