The Emporia High softball team saw its season come to an end Wednesday night with an 8-0 loss to Shawnee Heights in the Class 5A Regional in Topeka.
The Lady Spartans could not get anything going at the plate against Shawnee Heights starter Jaclyn Meakins, as EHS could only muster six hits and drew no walks in the shutout.
“We had some hits, but they just made plays,” EHS coach Ray Owens said. “They (Shawnee Heights) are a good team, no doubt in my mind.
“If they play like they did tonight, they could go all the way.”
On the flip side, the Lady Thunderbirds pounded out 16 hits against EHS on its way to the Regional title — Heights would go on to defeat Topeka West, 3-2, in the championship game.
Heights did most of its damage in the third inning. After taking a 1-0 lead after the second inning, the Lady T-Birds exploded with six runs in the third inning to blow the game wide open.
“They just started pounding the ball up the middle,” Owens said.
Meanwhile, three Emporia errors aided Heights’ cause, and the Lady Spartans could not muster any rally after that. Heights tacked on one more run in the fifth to make it 8-0.
“We made a couple of mistakes, and they pounced on those mistakes,” Owens said. “Our girls kept playing and didn’t quit.”
The loss ended a frustrating season for Emporia High (2-19), as the youth-laden Lady Spartans had trouble all season generating enough offense and cutting down on fielding errors to break through for more wins.
“The win-loss record looks bad, but I’ve had so much fun coaching these ladies,” Owens said, “because they never got down, never fussed with each other and kept trying and trying, and I enjoyed coaching them.”
Wednesday at Topeka
Class 5A Regional
Shawnee Heights 8, Emporia 0
Emporia 000 000 0 — 0 6 3
Shawnee Hts 016 010 X — 8 16 0
Cassandra Huth, Hannah Lynch (6) and Muninger. Jaclyn Meakins and New. W — Meakins. L — Huth. 2B — Shawnee Heights: Medrano, Moore.