This weekend, EmmaLee Essary bashed her 27th career home run, tying the school record held by Kami Holt. It brought to mind the most dramatic homer of Holt’s career — a late-night moonshot over the left-field scoreboard in Carthage that delivered a 5-4 come-from-behind district championship to the Lady Tigers on October 15, 2014.
Just moments before Holt’s home run, Republic had seemed destined to lose a heartbreaker. They led 3-0 after five innings, but Webb City scored a run in the sixth and three more in the top of the seventh to take a 4-3 lead against then-sophomore pitcher Rachel Rook.
“Rachel got a little nervous in the top of the 7th there. She’s a sophomore. It’s going to happen. She cruised all night,” coach Lee Dishman said after the game. But despite losing the lead, Dishman says the Lady Tigers never stopped doubting they could win.
“They came off the field and we just said ‘Hey, we gotta believe. This is what we worked for all year long. We gotta believe we can do it.’ Our dugout stayed up. Our kids stayed up, and my God, Kami just hit it,” Dishman said.
When Caty Eby reached base on an infield hit to lead off the bottom of the seventh, it opened the door for Holt.
“We knew we could come back. We knew we were the better team,” Holt said. “I went up there just looking for a pitch I could hit really good so Caty could at least score, so it could be tied. And then that happened.”
What happened was one of the longest home runs of the season in a season full of long home runs for Holt. It was her second longball of the game, and her 11th of the year. The only question when the ball came off the bat was whether it would stay fair. It did, sailing over the scoreboard into the darkness and sending the Lady Tigers pouring onto the field to celebrate.
Dishman said after the game that first base coach Allen Stolte had called Holt’s shot before it happened when Eby reached first base.
“Coach Stolte just told her, ‘When Kami hits this walk-off home run, just make sure you touch every base as you’re rounding it,’” Dishman said.
The Lady Tigers had to turn around and play Ozark in the sectional round the next day, and they lost that one in extra innings, ending their season with a then-record 24 wins. Their 246 runs scored and 26 home runs were also then a team record.