So what was it exactly that powered Jennifer Dace to hit three home runs Friday afternoon in the Emporia State softball team’s two-game series against North Dakota at the Trusler Sports Complex?
Cinnamon rolls. And you can bet the delicious breakfast treat will be a game-day staple for the Emporia State first baseman from here on out.
“I think it’s going to stick,” Dace said. “It’s Wheaties and cinnamon rolls, for sure. That’ll be the routine.”
Dace hit a three-run blast in No. 24 ESU’s 5-2 victory over the Fighting Sioux in Game One before knocking two over the fence in Game Two — another three-run shot to go with a two-run homer — helping spark the Hornets’ offense in a 12-5 win in Game Two.
Dace finished her day 4-for-7 at the plate with nine RBI and three runs scored.
“She looked great at the plate,” ESU coach Kristi Bredbenner said. “She did a great job of staying on the pitch and being a little more selective and making them throw her the one she was looking for and just swinging as hard as she can and making something happen.”
Dace’s second home run of the three came in the first inning of Game Two with ESU trailing, 1-0, as she hit her second three-run shot of the day that scored Jessie Wiard and Angela Mahan, making it 3-1.
But the junior’s third long ball of the series was perhaps her most critical, as it came in the fourth inning of Game Two with ESU trailing, 4-3, and struggling to get much going offensively against the pitching of North Dakota’s Alicia Pearce, who often fooled the Hornet batters with an off-speed pitch that dropped over home plate.
However, with two outs and Wiard on first, Dace laced a shot to straightaway center to put ESU in front, 5-4.
“I didn’t even feel like it was a home run at first,” Dace said. “It was kind of an outside pitch, and I just stuck my bat out and got it.”
The homer breathed some life into Emporia’s bats, and the Hornets ran away with things from there. ESU scored once more in the inning when April Huddleston doubled home Miranda Campbell from second, putting ESU ahead, 6-4. The Hornets scored once more in the fifth and tacked on five more runs in the sixth — highlighted by a three-run homer by Aubree Bratin — to win going away.
Of ESU’s 20 hits in Game Two, 11 came after Dace’s final home run.
“We were down 4-3, and it seemed like every time we were getting a little momentum, they came right back and took it away from us,” Bredbenner said, “and that (Dace’s third home run) was exactly what we needed at that time — that momentum killer for them.”
The late offensive charge was enough to allow Megan Dennis to pick up her third win of the season, as the ESU starter went five innings, giving up five runs — including three home runs — on six hits while striking out eight.
“It’s great knowing that even if the opposing team does score a few runs that we can come right back and score just as many, usually more,” Dennis said. “It’s a good feeling as a pitcher knowing I have that to fall back on even if I do give up three home runs.”
Game One was not quite so dramatic, as Dace’s three-run home run in the third inning gave Emporia State all the scoring it would need.
Emporia State’s Game-One starter, Samantha Sheeley, got into a jam in the top of the third when Nicole Larson led off the frame with a solo home run to put North Dakota ahead, 1-0. After ESU got one out, Sheeley then allowed a double and a single before hitting Nicole Puerling to load the bases.
But Sheeley escaped the inning with minimal damage by striking out the final two North Dakota batters.
Dace put ESU (13-9) ahead for good in the bottom half of the frame, sending an offering from Michele Wolf over the right-field fence to drive home Wiard and Mahan to make it 3-1.
Jenna Potter then hit a solo shot in the fourth to make it 4-1, and Dace again drove in Wiard in the fifth with a single up the middle to make it 5-1. UND’s Casie Hanson hit the first of her two home runs on the day in the sixth, but it was not enough for the Fighting Sioux.
Sheeley struggled at times but still picked up the victory, lasting six innings after giving up one run while scattering six hits to go with 12 strikeouts.
“Sam wasn’t at her best today, but she’s pitched a lot this week,” Bredbenner said. “I thought we got it done when we needed to. We got the runners in like we needed to.”
Emporia State is back in action today at the Trusler Sports Complex with a game against Winona State at 5 p.m.
Game One
No. 24 ESU 5, North Dakota 2
Friday at Cannon Field
North Dakota 001 000 1 — 2 7 0
ESU 003 110 X — 5 7 0
W — Sheeley. L — Wolf.
LOB — ESU 4, UND 9. 2B — UND: Rehberger. HR — UND: Hanson, Larson; ESU: Dace, Potter. HBP — UND: Hanson, Puerling; ESU: Potter. SB — ESU: Wiard, Ma. Dennis 2, Campbell, Potter. CS — ESU: Potter.
Game Two
No. 24 ESU 12, North Dakota 5
Friday at Cannon Field
North Dakota 103 010 0 — 5 7 3
ESU 300 315 X — 12 20 0
W — Me. Dennis. L — Fisher.
E — UND: Rehberger, Larson, Peters. LOB — UND 3, ESU 9. 2B — UND: Hanson; ESU: Campbell 2, Huddleston, Hughes 2. HR — UND: Rehberger, Hanson, Gaustad; ESU: Dace 2, Brattin. HBP — UND: Gaustad. SH — ESU: Brattin. SB — ESU: Wiard CS — ESU: Mahan.