Emporia State's Morgan Viola, far right, is greeted by her teammates at home plate after hitting a homerun Saturday afternoon at Trusler Sports Complex.
Laura Pfautsch was fine until she took her first step into the locker room on Saturday.
It all seemed to hit her then. On Senior Day, the right fielder couldn’t help but shed a few tears.
And also save a few more for later.
“I think we’ll all get a little more emotional,” Pfautsch said, “when we know it’s our absolute last game.”
With Emporia State’s 3-1 and 3-0 victories over Fort Hays State Saturday, Pfautsch and the other five seniors sure played like they wanted to earn the right to play next month’s Regional games at home.
The Hornets (41-9, 14-2 MIAA) clinched their third consecutive regular-season conference championship on Sunday, as Central Missouri split with Truman to give ESU a two-game lead with two games to play.
ESU holds the tiebreaker over Central after sweeping the Jennies last week.
Emporia State's Courtney Stevens connects with a pitch Saturday afternoon at Trusler Sports Complex.
The Hornets showed dominating pitching and also enough offense, with the senior class notching its 200th victory over the last four years.
“We played two great games,” ESU coach Kristi Bredbenner said, “just like that senior class has played their entire careers.”
ESU started slowly with the bats, falling behind 1-0 in the fifth after FHSU’s Terra Fraser hit her first home run of the season off Courtney Reed.
The momentum was all changed by one swing from Morgan Viola.
“I really wanted to step up as a senior,” Viola said, “and do something for the team.”
Leading off the bottom of the fifth, Viola connected on a home run that snuck over the wall in left-center field, tying the game at 1 and giving her team a much-needed boost. It was Viola’s 30th homer of her career.
“I think that gave us the confidence that we could hit that pitcher,” Bredbenner said.
Though Adrian Mohr had been keeping ESU guessing with off-speed pitches, the Hornets broke through with two more in the fifth.
After Courtney Stephens and Chelsea McClernon reached on errors, April Huddleston drove one in with an RBI double to left.
Later, McClernon scored on a wild pitch.
“All it does is take one person to start something — that’s what we needed today, that one person to start something,” Pfautsch said. “We were all going to follow that person.”
Reed held the lead from there, facing three batters over the minimum.
She allowed just two hits and the one run in a complete-game effort, striking out nine. She needed only seven pitches to get the six outs in the third and fourth innings.
Samantha Sheeley followed with a gem of her own in Game Two, pitching a three-hit shutout while striking out 10.
“Sam’s looking better and better every game,” Bredbenner said.
ESU, meanwhile, tacked on single runs in the third, fourth and fifth in the second game.
Pfautsch went 2-for-3 with the game-winning run in Game Two, while Miranda Campbell also had a pair of hits.
The Hornets will play a pair of make-up games at Missouri Western on Wednesday before opening the MIAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed on Friday.
The team also sits at the top spot in the regional poll. If ESU can hold that, it would play host to the Regionals in Emporia.
“Hopefully,” Viola said, “this won’t be our last home game.”
Saturday at Emporia
Game One
ESU 3, FHSU 1
Ft. Hays State 000 010 0 — 1 2 2
Emporia State 000 030 X — 3 4 1
W — Reed. L — Rockefeller
E — FSHU: Valentine 2; ESU: Davison. LOB — Tigers 2; Hornets 5. 2B — FHSU: Anastos; ESU: Huddleston. HR — FHSU: Fraser; ESU: Viola. SB — FHSU: Anastos.
Game Two
ESU 3, FHSU 0
Ft. Hays State 000 000 0 — 0 3 1
Emporia State 001 110 X — 3 6 0
W — Sheeley. L — Mohr.
E — FHSU: McMillen. DP — Tigers 1. LOB — Tigers 4; Hornets 9. 2B — FHSU: Herl, E.; Anastos. HBP — ESU: McClernon; Wiard; Viola. SH — ESU: McClernon; Wiard. SF — ESU: Dace. SB — ESU: Viola 2; Campbell; Pfautsch.
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