Confidence is a great thing and there may be no team more confident than the Emmaus softball team right now. Not only have they opened the season at 5-0, but they've had to stage a comeback in four of those five games this season, including a 4-3 win over Hamburg and a 13-10 win over Stroudsburg on Monday.

Emmaus fell behind Hamburg early, 3-1, but battled back to tie the game 3-3 going to the seventh inning. Pitcher Laura Rau shut down Hamburg in the top of the inning and Emmaus quickly went to work in the bottom of the inning.

Emmaus put runners on second and third with nobody out, bringing Cassie Burke to the plate. Burke hit a long, high fly ball to center field, deep enough to score pinch-runner Emily Quigg from third with the winning run. Rau, who threw a complete game, picked up her fourth win of the season.

"They know that when they come up in that position, we've practiced it, we've worked on it," said Emmaus head coach John Eyer. "All you want to do is get it to the outfield. That does the job. Cassie struggled a little bit today at bat and I'm sure she was thinking about that when she came up there this time around. For a freshman, she's way beyond her years in playing the game."

Eyer was right. Burke was focusing strictly on making good contact to drive home the run.

"I just wanted to hit the ball hard to get the run in," said Burke, a freshman. "I'm just glad that our whole team battled back. Sometimes, we start off slowly, but we always stay together and I just think this is a really, really good team."

Emmaus was helped along by a couple of sparkling defensive plays, which helped them keep Hamburg from busting the game open. Eyer wasn't quite sure what to expect from his team coming into the season, because he has a lot of young players. He's quickly come to see that they have the potential to be a very good team.

On Monday, Emmaus again pulled out some magic. After trailing Stroudsburg 7-1 after two innings, the Hornets battled back to get a 13-10 win in eight innings. Ciara Wippel delivered a bases-loaded double to score three eighth-inning runs for the win. Sydney Wertheimer had a huge day at the plate, launching two home runs and driving in five runs for Emmaus. Junior Sarah Mohr picked up the win.

"I guess I'm pleasantly surprised," said Eyer. "I felt we had a team that could do this, but you never know what's going to happen early in the season and right now I'm definitely pleased with their performance and hopefully we continue to do that. I know we're going to take some lumps somewhere, that happens, but for now, we're just going to keep building on what we're doing."

Rau, who is a senior, has been the winning pitcher in four of Emmaus' five games this season. While she's excited about both her personal success and the success of the team, Rau is especially excited just to be back on the field after missing all of last season with a thumb injury. Rau played for a tournament team coached by her father to get ready for the season and believes this team is much better than a lot of people gave it credit for coming into the season.

"I'm just glad that our whole team battled back," said Rau. "Sometimes we start off slowly, but we always stay together and I just think this is a really, really good team."

The recent streak of bad weather had kept Emmaus from playing for nine days, so Eyer wasn't completely sure what to expect from his team when it took the field against Hamburg. The win, and how the team performed in getting the win, is just another piece of evidence as to how his team's confidence is helping them to win games.

"They're showing me that no matter what that score says, they know they've got seven innings in which to battle and play the game," said Eyer. "They talk about it here and they talk about it in practice; the game goes seven innings no matter what and when you play all seven of them, you can make things happen. As long as they have that attitude, I think they'll be fine."

The weather has caused a back-up in the schedule that will have Emmaus playing four games over the next six days and then. The Hornets face a schedule that has them playing seven games in 10 days. It starts with a home game against Pocono Mountain East tonight at Patriot's Park in Allentown and continues with games at Whitehall and Bethlehem Catholic on Friday and Saturday.