Emporia State 14 Wayne State 13
The Wayne State College softball team pounded out 13 runs and 18 hits in the season opener Friday afternoon against Emporia State at the Washburn Invitational in Topeka, Kansas, but the Hornets shocked the Wildcats with a late rally scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to shock the Wildcats in a wild 14-13 contest.
WSC scored in every inning but the seventh and opened the game with three runs in the first thanks to run-scoring singles from
Ashley Hernandez and freshman
Jenna Etmans for a 3-0 lead.
The 'Cats scored two runs in the second for a 5-0 lead with Hernandez belting a two-run homer over the left field fence.
Emporia State tied the game with five runs in the bottom of the second, but WSC came back with four runs in the top of the third for a 9-5 lead. Hernandez had a two-run double,
Kamryn Sparks added an RBI double while
Kim Vidlak produced an RBI single.
Wayne State took a 11-5 lead in the fourth with
Kortney Buresh contributing a two-run single.
The Hornets scored once in the bottom of the fourth, but WSC matched the run in the top of the fifth for a 12-6 lead on a
Madison Gomez RBI single.
WSC scored their final run in the sixth on a run-scoring double from Vidlak to give the 'Cats a 13-6 advantage.
Emporia State started their rally with three runs in the sixth and came up with five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, aided by three Wildcat errors, to complete the wild 14-13 comeback.
Wayne State had 18 hits in the game, led by Hernandez going 3 for 5 with a homer, double and five RBI. Sparks finished 3 for 4 with two doubles and two RBI while Vidlak was 3 for 5 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. Buresh went 3 for 4 with four runs scored and two RBI while
Paiton Tornberg and
Madison Gomez each contributed two hits to the Wildcat attack.
Sophomore starter
Hadley Chvatal worked 6 1/3 innings and was suffered with the pitching loss while reliever
Sloan Cooksey faced five batters and recorded one out.
Wayne State was slated to face Central Missouri late Friday afternoon in the second game at the Washburn Invitational.