Emporia State softball and baseball advanced past the first rounds of play in the MIAA Tournament last week, but were knocked out of the post-season by nationally-ranked teams. Hornet softball ended the season in the semifinals against No. 7 Missouri Southern and Hornet baseball fell in the championship game to No. 5 Pitt State.
The Hornet men and women went into the tournament as the No. 6 and No. 4 seeds respectively.
Softball advances to semifinals, unable to make championship
The Hornet women began championship play at Emporia’s Trusler Sports Complex with a quarterfinals match against the Jennies of the University of Central Missouri on Thursday, May 7.
The scoreboard remained empty in the first three innings, but ESU scored on three runs and two Jennies errors in the bottom of the fourth to throw up five points. The Hornets scored twice more in the fifth inning and did not allow the Jennies to make it home, holding a 7-0 win against the Jennies after the top of the seventh.
The Hornets faced off against No. 1 seed Missouri Southern in the semifinals the following day on May 8. With a single run from sophomore utility Kinsey Perine, the Hornets were unable to upset the regular season champions, losing 6-1.
Despite multiple runners in the first three innings, ESU failed to score. Likewise, Missouri Southern lacked points until the bottom of the third, when two singles and a home run put them in the lead at 3-0.
The score remained consistent through the fourth, then Perine hit a triple in the top of the fifth. Senior outfielder Taryn Burkhardt allowed Perine to run home with a single, giving the Hornets their lone point of the afternoon. The Lions responded immediately, completing three runs off of two homers during their half.
With neither team scoring in the sixth inning, the Hornets attempted to score with two runners in the seventh, but were unable to bring them home. They ended the game totaling a 6-1 loss and closed out the season with a 29-18 record.
Baseball tops first two rounds, falls to No. 5 Gorillas
Hornet baseball ended the regular season with a 35-15 record, landing the sixth seed in the MIAA Tournament bracket. ESU faced off against No.3 seed Missouri Southern in the quarterfinals of the tournament, held in Edmond, Oklahoma on May 7, winning the game 4-2 to advance to the second round. Sophomore Colby Deaver, MIAA pitcher of the year, struck out a career high of 16 Lion batters over the game’s nine innings.
On May 8, the Hornets matched up against the Griffons of Missouri Western, the No. 7 seed, who were unable to perform against the Hornets. After a scoreless first inning for the Griffons, ESU jumped to lead with three runs. Missouri Western remained scoreless over the next four while the Hornets managed five points. In the fifth, the Griffons made their lone run of the game, but the Hornets responded with three of their own. By the seventh, the Griffons failed to score again and the game was called to favor the Hornets 14-1.
In the May 9 championship game against the top-seeded, No.5 nationally-ranked Pittsburg State Gorillas, the Hornets failed to pull ahead. ESU didn’t produce any runners until the third while Pitt State took a 4-0 lead. With two runners unable to complete, Pitt State added another to the scoreboard during the inning. In the fourth, the Hornets once again produced two runners, but remained scoreless with yet another run from the Gorillas.
In the top of the fifth, Pitt State struck out two Hornet batters before junior infielder Logan Myers put ESU on the board with a home run, his fifth of the season. The Gorillas didn’t respond in what was their first and only scoreless inning of the game.
The Hornets failed to score any more runs while the Gorillas added five to make it 11-1 at the game’s end and claim the 2026 MIAA Championship title. The tournament ended the postseason for the Hornets, who finished 37-16 overall and were not featured in Sunday’s NCAA Division II bracket.
