Coming into its final five games of the 2016 softball season, Emmaus was right on the cusp of qualifying for districts, with a 5-6 record in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and a 7-7 overall record.

The Hornets’ final five games could make or break their season and all of them came against Skyline Division opponents, which was stacked as usual.

Emmaus lost to Northampton and then dropped a hard-fought 5-4 game to Nazareth before another loss to Parkland, which eliminated the Hornets from any postseason possibilities.

The team didn’t show any quit, beating Central Catholic 11-1 before falling to Whitehall to end the season with a 6-10 EPC record and an 8-11 overall mark.

“Last year was tough, because we just didn’t finish games, we just didn’t put in a full seven innings,” said coach John Eyer, who enters his 18th season as the team’s head coach. “We had some games won, but just couldn’t hang on and put them away, so we have to change that more than anything else.”

This season, Whitehall and Parkland figure to battle for the top spot in the division, with Northampton and Nazareth as possibilities. Central Catholic, which finished at the bottom of the division last season, figures to be better, but still has some work to do. One thing is different though: the Hornets.

Comparing rosters, Emmaus has just about as much experience as any other team in the EPC and has a number of key starters returning this season. Seniors Brooke Iobst and Alyssa Krasnansky and juniors Cassie Burke, Maddy Clark, Caitlyn Ashelman and Alexis Ruth are also back, as is sophomore Hannah Palinkas.

“We have a lot of experience and with last season and with the girls playing summer ball, they’ve all developed even more in terms of learning the game and refining what they’re doing,” said Eyer. “I put our team up there with just about any team in the conference, but we have to go out and show that we can play with them. I thought last year, we were competitive with a lot of the top teams, we just couldn’t hold on and win games.”

If this year’s team can develop confidence, stick to its strong fundamentals and find a killer instinct that will get it through what turned out to be late-game collapses last season, things could be very different.

Another change for this season is that the Lady Hornets have an actual home field. After playing at Allentown’s Patriot’s Park, also home for Central Catholic, the team is moving to the Kiwanis Field on Williams St. (near the library) in Emmaus this season. While it might not have all of the fancy trappings of Pate’s Park, it could provide a true home field advantage for a team looking to take the next step and qualify for the postseason.

“I think it’s great,” said Eyer. “I think to have our own place, right in Emmaus, it’s going to help to get more people, especially young people, out to the games and make for a great atmosphere. Plus, I think the girls are taking more pride and ownership in it, because it’s ours.

“Pate’s was good to us, but it was a long time coming for us to have our own field like this.”

Having to play two games against some of the toughest teams in the EPC thanks to the strength of the Skyline Division, it’s not going to be easy even for an experienced team. Early April is going to

be an early test for the Hornets when they face Northampton, Parkland and Whitehall all in a week’s span of time.

“If we get a couple of early wins under our belt, I think it’s going to do a lot to show our girls how to win and just what it takes,” said Eyer. “We’ve talked about that a lot, about having confidence and playing a full seven innings and not letting the other team back into games, so that’s going to be important, especially early in the season, to get a couple of early wins.”