Sam Thiel/Winonan

After a long, brutal winter, there’s nothing better than to get outside and experience the spring weather. Though the time hasn’t quite arrived, it hasn’t held the Winona State University softball team back from starting its season.

The Warriors began the season indoors before heading down to sunny Orlando over spring break, where they were victorious in all of their games.

Winona State took its 15-1 record to St. Joseph, Mo., for a couple of doubleheaders between Emporia State and Missouri Western State, looking to continue its winning ways.

Jenny Nelson crushed a walk-off home run to right field and allowed Winona State to split its doubleheader matchup against No. 21 Emporia State March 18 in St. Joseph.

Emporia State gave Ashley Walker a free pass to first base with two outs in the bottom half of the eighth in the nightcap of the doubleheader, which followed with Nelson’s walk-off home run, giving the Warriors the victory.

The homer was a perfect finish to Nelson’s day, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI in the 7-5 victory.

The Warriors dropped the opening game of the doubleheader, 11-4, and once again found themselves on the trailing end of the scoreboard in the nightcap.

The Hornets flew out to a 5-0 advantage after plating four runs in the top of the third. Winona State started its comeback, with a trio of runs in the third and one in the fourth to pull to within one, 5-4.

After a pair of singles from Brooke Piotrowski and Reed Karsten, Walker smashed a double to left center, plating both base runners. Walker soon scored on a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 5-3.

The Warriors recorded another run in the fourth, with Karsten tripling to score Lexi Perez, who had walked.

The Warriors tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, with Nelson knocking a single up the middle to plate Piotrowski.

After shutting out Emporia State in the seventh and eighth innings, Nelson gave the Warriors the victory, hitting her team-leading sixth homer of the season.

Karsten posted three hits for Winona State in its nightcap victory while Piotrowski also netted a pair of singles.

Hanna Lythberg improved her record to 8-0 on the mound, giving up a pair of earned runs while tossing a complete game.

The Warriors trailed early in the first game, falling behind 3-0 thanks to consecutive RBI doubles and another run scoring single. A double from Jessica Kullmann that scored two brought the Warriors to within one.

The Hornets got one more run in the bottom of the fourth, but Winona State tied things up with a two-run single by Mary Turitto in the fifth. The Warriors loaded the bases with two outs in the inning, setting it up for the freshman, who sent a single into center field to square the game up at four.

Emporia State reclaimed the lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth and then added six in the sixth for an 11-4 advantage.

Turitto ended her day 2-for-4 with a couple of RBI while Kullmann also recorded her first multi-RBI game of the season.

No. 20 Winona State posted its second extra inning victory in as many days as the team split a doubleheader against Missouri Western State March 19 in St. Joseph, Mo.

The Warriors recorded a 2-1 victory in the first game thanks to an RBI triple by Brooke Piotrowski in the eighth inning before dropping the nightcap 4-0.

The opener was battle of the pitchers, with Winona State getting on the scoreboard first in the top of the second as Morgan Lintz smashed a solo home run to right center to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead. Missouri Western would knot things up in the fourth, recording an RBI ground out from Katie Klosterman.

The game went on to extra innings, with neither team able to get another run across in regulation. With Shannon Nelson on second in the top of the eighth Piotrowski got a triple to plate the game-winning run.

Junior outfielder and pitcher Ashley Walker said, “I give credit for coming back in both games to the confidence our team has in each other. It doesn’t matter what the score is or who is in the batter’s box, we know that any member of our team is capable of coming through in any situation.”

Three of the Warriors’ four hits were extra base hits, with Piotrowski getting a double and triple and Lintz homering, while Jessica Kullmann added a single.

Walker tallied the victory on the hill, allowing five hits while giving up just one unearned run. Walker struck out three while improving her record to 5-2.

“As always it will be important to play ‘our game,’ which is high energy and full of passion and pride this weekend against St. Cloud and UMD,” Walker said.

Missouri Western jumped out to an early lead in the nightcap, getting a run in the bottom of the first and chipping on three more runs thanks to a pair of homers in the third to record the 4-0 victory.

Winona State was stifled offensively, with Lintz posting two of the team’s five hits on the game. Reed Karsten, Mary Turitto and Allyson O’Herron also added singles for the Warriors.

Winona State University (17-3 overall) will head to St. Cloud and Duluth this weekend for a pair of doubleheaders.