Talk about a momentum swing.
For four innings, the Lincoln University softball team put itself in position to upset the nation's 13th-ranked team.
One inning later, the Blue Tigers found themselves losing by the run rule.
The Emporia State Hornets used a 10-run top of the fifth inning to rally for a 13-4 win against the Blue Tigers in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at Lincoln Field. And while the result was similar to the first game - a 15-3 win by the Hornets in five innings - this decision didn't feel like your typical mercy-rule win.
"Just a couple batters was all it took," Lincoln coach Nicole Stacey said. "That's how it's been. We don't recover well, we haven't recovered well all year with something like that."
The "something like that" was a power show the Hornets put on in the decisive inning. After a leadoff single, Emporia State turned a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 lead with a home run. They followed it with a solo homer, and two batters later, a two-run shot had turned the game into Home Run Derby.
"It kind of goes back to the pitching, just staying consistent," Stacey said of the problems in the inning. "And we don't have a lot of depth."
No kidding. After starter Jessica Cook departed following the second homer of the frame - having given up six earned runs on 10 hits with one strikeout in four-plus innings - Alyssa Laudwig came in and gave up three earned runs on three hits in 1/3 of an inning.
Lincoln then turned to senior first baseman Erin Sommerer, who made her pitching debut by working the final 2/3 of inning, giving up four runs (one earned) on three hits.
"(Laudwig) had strep throat, probably shouldn't even be playing, but she wanted to play," Stacey said. "But she couldn't do much. And then Erin, I put her out there just to throw some offspeed, it couldn't hurt."
It ended a game that had started with so much promise for Lincoln.
After Emporia State got two runs in the top of the first, Lincoln took the lead back when Sam Kircher and Jessica Wolken singled in front of Shantae Duren, who blasted a home run over the fence in right field.
Then after the Hornets tied it with a solo home run in the top of the third, the Blue Tigers took the lead back with a solo shot by Amanda Coffelt in the bottom of the frame.
The homers were nice going-away presents for Duren and Coffelt, two of the five Lincoln seniors - along with Sommerer, Kelsey Hight and Shaye Coleman - honored on Senior Day.
"I was thinking, "Could a couple more seniors get in there and hit one?'" Stacey said.
The first game, in contrast, was over early. The Hornets (43-10) scored three in the first, then effectively ended it with 10 in the second. They added solo tallies in the third and fourth.
Lincoln got its runs on a two-run homer by Wolken in the third and an RBI groundout by Sommerer in the fifth.
The sweep clinched the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association regular-season championship for Emporia State. The Hornets came into the day tied with Central Oklahoma for the league lead, but when the Bronchos split a twinbill with Missouri Western to finish at 22-4 in MIAA play, Emporia State won it with a mark of 23-3.
"They're a great team, a great team," Stacey said. "Pitching, hitting, everything. There's a reason why they're No. 1 in our conference. They have a lot of strength, a lot of depth."
Lincoln, meanwhile, ends the season at 7-38 overall and 2-24 in the MIAA.
"These girls, with how bad it's been this year, could have easily given in and we could have dealt with a lot more drama on the team," Stacey said. "They didn't do that. ... These girls haven't lost their fight. In the past, we would have just been done and over with. I have to give them credit, they just kept fighting all the way through, no matter what was happening."