WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State University softball team entered the opening round of the NCAA Division II Softball Central Region 1 tournament as the top-seeded team riding a 15-game winning streak with an unblemished home record intact this season.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, they ran into an even hotter team in Emporia State on Thursday afternoon at Maynard R. Johnson Field as the eighth-seeded Stingers took down Winona State, 3-1.
Emporia punched its ticket to the NCAA Regional by running through the MIAA Tournament as they became the only eight seed in conference history to win its postseason title. The Hornets entered Friday's tilt with Winona winners of 13 of their last 14 games.
"We ran into a hot team that is playing well and with a lot of confidence," head coach Greg Jones said after the Warriors' loss. "Despite that, we followed the script today, minus our offense. We held them to three runs and our goal offensively is always scoring four. We just couldn't string the hits together, so you have to tip your cap to Emporia for holding our bats in check."
The Hornets' hardest hit ball of the day was a fly out to right in the first inning, but in the second frame they nickel-and-dimed their way to a one-run lead off Warrior starter McKenna Larsen.
Larsen issued the dreaded leadoff walk to open the top of the second, and after a foul out on a sacrifice bunt attempt, she looked poised to escape with a potential inning-ending double play. However, a bad hop resulted in a base hit and the Hornets proceeded to take a 1-0 lead on a single by the next batter. Larsen did avoid further damage by stranding the bases loaded to end the inning.
Offensively, Winona State was limited to just one hit and one walk over the first four innings. In the top of the fifth, Emporia State plated two more runs before chasing Larsen from the circle as the Hornet lead expanded to 3-0.
Down to their final nine outs at the plate, the Warrior bats began to show signs of life in the bottom of the fifth but were once again denied. Jordyn Kleman opened the frame with a hard-hit line out to third and Jen Giesey followed with a double off the center field wall. After the second out of the inning, Samantha McLean singled to put runners on the corners before Emporia's Montana Mesler recorded the final out in the circle.
Jordyn Kleman, who entered in relief in the top of the fifth, struck out the side in the sixth and her momentum seemed to carry over as Mariah Schultz blasted a leadoff homer in the bottom of the frame to finally put the Warriors on the scoreboard. Two batters later, Alison Nowak singled to bring the tying run to the plate but Mesler once again wiggled off the hook.
Giesey connected on her second double of the day in the bottom of the seventh which carried with it the feeling of yet another improbable Warrior comeback. Two batters later, McClean flew out to the warning track in left field before Mesler retired the final WSU batter to earn the complete game victory.
Larsen (18-5) took the loss after allowing three runs on eight hits over 4.1 IP. Kleman allowed just one hit over 2.2 IP while striking out five out of the bullpen.
Winona State falls to 45-6 with the loss while Emporia State improves to 29-29. The Warriors have yet to lose back-to-back games this season.
"From here it's just two doubleheaders," Jones said he told the team after the ballgame. "The great thing about this group is that we've responded all year and strung together wins after a loss. That's what we need to do starting tomorrow. We certainly have the pitching to do it and our offense has produced all season."
The Warriors will play an elimination game against Arkansas Tech (43-18) on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. The winner of that game will play again at 6 p.m. against the loser of a game earlier in the day between Minnesota Duluth and Emporia State.
Stay tuned to WinonaStateWarriors.com for potential schedule changes due to inclement weather expected in the area on Friday.
