Emporia State’s softball team scored early and often in a doubleheader sweep of Central Missouri, Saturday afternoon at Trusler Sports Complex, as they improved their MIAA conference record to .500.

The Jennies started off game one with three hits and a run in the bottom of the first, but an RBI single by Danielle Sprinkle, sophomore outfielder, tied the game at 1-1.

After a shaky start, Eryn Stockman, junior pitcher, settled down and held Jennies scoreless for the next few innings.

In the meantime, the Hornet offense scored four runs in the second, one in the third, and two more in the fourth to bring the score to 8-2 at the end of four innings.

The Jennies would begin to mount a comeback in the fifth inning, scoring three runs on three hits and cutting the Hornet lead, 8-5.

Holly Hinkle, sophomore pitcher, collected the final seven outs of the game. Hinkle worked a scoreless 2.1 innings, sealing a 9-5 win for her team and recording her first save of the season in the process.

“I think it’s really awesome that we started getting our bats going and everybody just kept them hot and kept rolling,” Stockman said. “It was nice to score in almost every inning.”

The Jennies had to play catchup for the entirety of game two as ESU raced out of the gates with a 5-run first inning.

Central Missouri would scrape together five runs off Hinkle who started the game this time around. The five runs never put the game in doubt however, as the Jennies were never able to take the lead. Hornet batters made things comfortable for Hinkle who was able to pitch a complete game and capture her fifth win of the season.

Sprinkle provided the spark for the Hornet offense in the second game, going 1-4 with two runs and a three-run homerun. It was her team-leading seventh homerun of the season.

“My mindset was that I needed to score the runners that were on base,” Sprinkle said. “She missed down in the middle a little bit and I took advantage of it.”

The combined 20 hits and 16 RBIs for Hornets batters on the day signaled offensive growth to their coach.

“We got in there, maybe swung at a bad pitch, swung at a changeup, whatever it is, but they refocused and knew they were going to get that next pitch,” Huddleston said. “Altogether, our offense looked very good.”

The back-to-back 9-5 and 8-5 wins earned the Lady Hornets a 7-7 record in MIAA play and served as encouragement for a team that has struggle at times this season.

“I think we’re starting to come together really well as a team,” said Stockman. “Even when we’re making those little errors, everyone has each other’s back and we’re cheering each other on and staying positive. I think that’s our main thing right now is staying

positive.”