Shawnee Heights’ big 1st inning sinks EHS softball team
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
One big inning doomed the Emporia High softball team in Wednesday night’s Regional opener against Shawnee Heights.
Heights sent 14 batters to the plate and used five EHS errors in the first inning to score 10 runs on the way to a 14-5 victory over the Lady Spartans, ending Emporia’s season.
Shawnee Heights’ first-inning offensive onslaught was led by a Kelli Nicholson home run, and Emporia did not record an out until the ninth batter of the inning.
The first inning was particularly frustrating after the way Emporia continued to battle the rest of the way, assistant coach Kristen Oberle said.
“I told the girls that if you take away that one inning, we were right there — we actually would have won,” Oberle said. “But I was proud of the girls for never giving up. After an inning like that, they could’ve given up, but they kept fighting.”
EHS came back to score a pair of runs in each of the third and fifth innings and a single run in the fourth, but Heights’ lead would prove to be insurmountable for the Lady Spartans, who ended their season at 4-17.
Hilary Heinrichs and Jennifer Lechien each had two hits for EHS, while Lenae Wells also had a double.
Shawnee Heights went on the win the Regional to earn a bid to State with a 1-0 victory over Lansing.
Shawnee Heights 14, Emporia 5
Tuesday at Topeka
Emporia 002 120 0 — 5 6 5
Shawnee Hts (10)02 110 X — 14 15 0
W — Meakins. L — Cassandra Huth. 2B — Emporia: Lenae Wells; SH: Gehle 2, Tetuan, Medrano 3, Bigham. HR — SH: Nicholson.
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