Republic senior EmmaLee Essary is making the most of her final weeks in a Republic softball uniform. Essary slugged three home runs during five games at the Springfield Invitational. Her homer in the first inning against Liberty Saturday was the 27th of her career. That ties the school home run mark currently held by Kami Holt, who graduated in 2016.
According to the Missouri State High School Activities Association record book, 27 home runs puts Essary in a tie with Holt and three others for 20th all-time in Missouri. Essary has hit her 27 home runs in 78 career games. That comes to 0.346 home runs per game, which currently places her in the top-ten all-time in that category, according to MSHSAA.
Essary also needs one more home run to tie Republic’s single-season home run record. That was set in 2018, when Julia Higgins had a monster season, slugging 14 homers and driving in 60 runs. Both of those are school records.
Tying the career home run record wasn’t the only milestone reached by Essary over the weekend. After homering in the first inning against Liberty, she drove home Jenna Belcher in the fourth. That was the 40th run batted in of the season for Essary, and the 100th RBI of her career. (She had 23 as a sophomore and 37 as a junior.)
Essary and the Lady Tigers will close the regular season with a home game against Ozark Tuesday, with the district tournament scheduled for next week.