There’s no doubt about it now.
The Emporia High softball team is on a winning streak.
The Lady Spartans capped their regular season Tuesday night at Whittier Park with a doubleheader sweep over Highland Park, 7-0 and 8-1, and with the two victories, Emporia now has won four straight heading into next week’s Regionals after starting the season 0-16.
“It’s a big confidence booster,” junior Lexi Hileman said. “We haven’t had the greatest season, but now, it’s looking up, and everybody’s excited to be here and excited to play and excited to win.”
Neither game against the Lady Scots was ever really in doubt, as Emporia got a masterful pitching performance out of Cassandra Huth in Game One while Hannah Lynch and Hilary Heinrichs combined to shut down Highland Park in the nightcap.
But perhaps even more noteworthy for the Lady Spartans was the fact that they committed just one error defensively on the night.
“We’ve proven that we can play defense over these last few games,” EHS coach Ray Owens said. “We did it at Topeka High last week, and we did it again tonight. Earlier in the year, if we made a mistake, we’d compound it with another and another, and we’re not doing that now.”
In the first game, Huth was simply dominant in the circle, as she lasted all seven innings to record the complete-game shutout. Huth not only allowed just three hits and walked just one batter, but she also recorded 10 strikeouts.
“I felt really good,” the sophomore said. “After a couple batters, I started figuring them out. I was looking at their positions and seeing what they could and couldn’t hit, and once I got that figured out, it wasn’t too hard to get going.”
With Huth throwing up zeroes every inning, the EHS offense gave her more than enough run support right from the get-go.
In the first inning, Hilary Heinrichs led off with a single to right, and two batters later, Lexi Hileman drove Heinrichs home with a single to right of her own.
After Hannah Lynch reached on an error that moved Hileman to third, Lynch faked like she was going to steal second, and after the Highland Park catcher threw to second, Hileman ran home to make it 2-0.
EHS plated another run in the second inning when Heinrichs drove in Lenae Wells after Wells hit a leadoff single, making it 3-0.
From there, Emporia High added a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, highlighted by an RBI triple from Hileman in the fifth that nearly ended up being an inside-the-park home run.
With Jennifer Lechien on first, Hileman blasted the first pitch she saw over the right fielder’s head and to the fence, which easily drove home Lechien. Hileman made it to third with a standup triple and nearly made the choice to go home, but got held up, if only for a moment.
On the relay throw into the infield, the Lady Scots’ second baseman threw wide of third base, allowing Hileman to run home to make the score 5-0.
“That triple was nice,” said Hileman, who went 3-for-3 with two RBI in Game One. “That was not the exact way I wanted to get home, but it works. At least I got there.”
Heinrichs went 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBI in the first game, while Wells went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
In Game Two, Highland Park did manage to plate a run in the fifth inning, but by that time, the Lady Spartans already owned a 5-0 lead.
EHS plated three runs in the first — with a two-RBI single from Hileman that drove home Heinrichs and Lechien being the key hit — and then Hileman and Lechien each scored in the third thanks in part to a pair of walks and two Highland Park errors.
The Lady Spartans got one run across in the fifth and two more in the sixth to close out the game, as three more Highland Park errors aided Emporia’s cause.
“Earlier in the year, we let games get away from us,” Owens said. “We’re not giving games away now. I’ve got confidence in these kids.”
Emporia (4-16) now heads into next week’s Regional tournament at K.C. Turner with some momentum and the knowledge that with its recent winning streak, EHS will not be the last seed, something Huth said was a big mental boost.
“We’ve finally won some games, and it couldn’t have been better timing,” Huth said. “We’re feeling pretty confident heading into Regionals because we have won some games now.”
Emporia 7, Highland Park 0
Game One
Highland Park 000 000 0 — 0 3 7
Emporia 210 022 X — 7 10 0
HP — Fletcher and Williams. EHS — Cassandra Huth and Lenae Wells.
W — Huth. L — Fletcher. 3B — Emporia: Hileman, Heinrichs.
Emporia 8, Highland Park 1
Game Two
Highland Park 000 010 0 — 1 4 6
Emporia 302 012 X — 8 7 1
HP — Wilson and Williams. EHS — Hannah Lynch and Hilary Heinrichs (4); and Lenae Wells.
W — Lynch. L — Wilson.
kitty93 (anonymous) says...
nice pic cass
May 11, 2008 at 7:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )