After plating 45 runs in its first five games, the Emmaus softball team’s bats went into cold storage as the Hornets managed just eight runs in a six-game losing skid that saw their overall record fall below the .500 mark on the season.

Fortunately for the Hornets, they have turned the heat back on with a 14-3 win over Pottsville and a 6-0 win over Stroudsburg, climbing to a 6-7 record overall and a 5-5 mark in the EPC.

In the last week, the Lady Hornets have gone from being no-hit in a 9-0 loss to Parkland (11-0 EPC, 12-2 overall) to their 14-run barrage against Pottsville (4-2 Schuylkill, 7-5 overall) on Friday. In two games against Parkland’s Katie Zaun, the Green Hornets were held to just two hits and struck out 27 times as they lost both games by a combined score of 11-0.

On the mound, Vanessa Anders threw a combined eight innings, allowing just three unearned runs. Anders was hit for three runs in the first against Pottsville and gave way to Lily Bruckler, who tossed six shutout innings and then returned to strike out six, giving up just three hits in a complete game win over Stroudsburg on Monday.

“We’ve run into some tough teams with some good pitching,” said Emmaus head coach Brittany D’Agostino after falling to Parkland. “We have players who can hit, and we should be able to turn things around and get back to being closer to the offense that we showed early in the year.”

Against Pottsville, Emmaus got home runs from Daria Krout and Marah Sisonick, who both finished the day going 2-for-4. Rachel Sherman led the team with three hits, while both Peyton Sisonick and Lindsey Moreau had two hits in the 14-3 win.

Emmaus came back on Monday with a shutout over Stroudsburg with Krout again homering for the Hornets. Moreau finished the day with three hits and Marah Sisonick had two to beat the Mounties.

The win over Stroudsburg opened a stretch of four games in three days for Emmaus, who play a doubleheader at Dieruff (0-10, 0-11) this week before playing Bethlehem Catholic (5-6, 7-6). They have another game Friday at Pocono Mountain East (8-3, 8-3), giving them five games in five days with all of them on the road.