There’s no ifs, ands or co-champs about it.
The Emporia State softball team is the MIAA regular season champion, earning that honor all to itself with a doubleheader split at Missouri Western on Wednesday.
ESU won the first game, 7-1, before dropping Game Two, 4-1.
“I hate to say it, but we’re a selfish team. We didn’t want to share that title with anyone else,” ESU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “That was the first goal we needed to accomplish this year.”
It is the third consecutive year ESU has won the conference’s regular-season title.
In Game One, ESU once again benefited from a strong performance from ace Courtney Reed.
The senior (24-4) allowed one run on three hits in a complete-game effort.
The Hornets scored in each of the first four innings, led offensively by April Huddleston and Miranda Campbell, who both contributed a pair of hits. Chelsea McClernon also posted three RBI.
Western took the second game behind a dominant outing in the circle from Lindsey Predovich. She allowed just one run over seven innings while striking out 11.
Megan Davison went 2-for-3 with a run scored for ESU.
The Hornets (42-10, 15-3 MIAA) earned the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and will face eighth-seeded Missouri Southern at noon Friday in Shawnee. ESU split with Southern in the two teams’ only matchup this year.
Wednesday at St. Joseph, Mo.
Game One
ESU 7, MWSU 1
Emporia State 121 100 2 — 7 7 0
Mo. Western 000 000 1 — 1 3 3
W — Reed. L — Warneke.
E — MWSU: Pivovar; Predovich; Sternberg. LOB — ESU 8; Western 5. 3B — ESU: Campbell. HR — MWSU: Predovich. HBP — ESU: Huddleston. SF — ESU: Davison. SB — ESU: McClernon; Viola; Pfautsch.
Game Two
MWSU 4, ESU 1
Emporia State 000 001 0 — 1 4 1
Mo. Western 300 100 X — 4 8 2
W — Predovich. L — Sheeley.
E — ESU: Hughes; MWSU: Heineman; Predovich. LOB — ESU 6; Western 5. 2B — ESU: Dace; MWSU: Nocita. HR — MWSU: Heineman; Pivovar,S.(4); Foor,M.(4). HBP - Huddleston,A. SH — MWSU: Sova. CS — MWSU: Heineman.