Moments after Emporia Energy 18s pitcher Amber Jones had finished a complete-game 9-2 victory over the Sedan Heat Sunday morning during a tournament at Trusler Sports Complex, she seemed surprised at how well the game — especially the early innings — had gone for her in the circle.
“I’m always nervous in the very beginning of games,” Jones said, “and I usually always have a shaky inning.”
Jones had eight strikeouts and only allowed five hits to help the Energy advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament. She only allowed more than two baserunners in an inning once — during Sedan’s two-run fourth.
But that shaky inning Jones had feared reared its ugly head in Emporia’s next game, a 9-1 quarterfinal loss to the Topeka Pride.
With the Energy shorthanded with the absence of its second pitcher, Amy McAfee, Jones got the start again, and this time, she gave up four runs off five hits in the first frame in lasting just 2 1/2 innings.
“I think the whole game just got off to a bad start and we just never could recover,” Emporia coach Lin Muninger said. “They were hitting everywhere we weren’t and we were hitting everywhere they were. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
The loss to the Pride ended the tournament for Emporia (7-5), which finished third overall with a 3-2 record in the two-day event.
“I thought we had a good weekend for being short-handed a little bit,” Muninger said. “We ran into a really good team (in the Topeka Pride).”
Against the Sedan Heat, Emporia gave Jones all the run support she would need in the first two innings. After Elyse Hecht drew a leadoff walk, McKenzie Cinelli knocked a double just fair down the left field line that moved Hecht to third. Hecht and Cinelli then each scored on consecutive wild pitches to put the Energy up, 2-0.
In the second inning, Javyn Carl reached after a low throw to first by the Heat’s shortstop, and after Lenae Wells popped out to first, Chelsea Goins knocked Carl home with a double to left center. Another error by the Sedan shortstop allowed Goins to score one batter later, making it 4-0.
Emporia went up 7-0 in the fourth inning when hits from Carl, Hecht and Brendy Muninger and another Sedan error contributed to another three Energy scores.
That would be all the run support Jones would need, as her only shaky inning came when she gave up back-to-back singles in the bottom of the fourth, and eventually both runs would score thanks to a sacrifice and an error.
“When we got those runs, I felt really good,” Jones said. “I was just throwing it as hard as I could because they weren’t getting their timing down. Then, I would throw them off with a slower fastball to try and mix them up.”
For good measure, Emporia added a pair of runs in the fifth when Jones turned a leadoff walk into a run when Wells tripled, and then Goins plated Wells with a single through the left side to make it 9-2.
Against the Topeka Pride, Jones began the game by giving up four consecutive singles, a walk and another single, as Emporia dug a 4-0 hole.
“They were just dinking and doinking the ball all over the place,” coach Muninger said.
Emporia came back with a run in its half of the first when Hecht scored from second off a single from Casey Speer, but that would be all the offense the Energy would muster despite eight hits.
“We were hitting the ball OK,” Muninger said, “we just weren’t getting the hits at the right time.”
Meanwhile, Topeka got three runs in the third and another two in the fifth to cap the scoring.
In pool play on Saturday, Emporia dropped its first game to the SEK Slingers, 5-3, before rebounding to win it’s next two games — an 11-3 victory over Shenanigans and a 4-3 win over the Sedan Heat.
Against the Slingers, Emporia took the lead at 3-2 in the fourth after an RBI single by Carl plated Jones, but the Slingers came back with a three-run fifth inning to take the win. Jones took the loss despite allowing just two hits.
Against Shenanigans, Emporia took advantage of five walks in the first inning to go ahead 5-0, and the Energy rolled from there. Emporia scored once in the third, twice in the fifth and three more times in the sixth to win by eight runs.
Emporia ended pool play with a comeback victory over Sedan. With two on and two outs left in the game and Emporia trailing 3-2, Carl hit a ground ball to the second baseman, who misplayed it. That allowed Muninger and Casey Speer to score to give Emporia the win.
The Emporia Energy 16s lost the first game of Sunday’s single elimination bracket to Shenanigans, 2-1, to end their weekend.
The next action for Emporia will be at the Sub-State tournament in Osage City next weekend.