REPUBLIC — Emma Vincent's hat trick even included a couple extra 3s.

Vincent ripped a three-run home run Tuesday to power Nixa past Ozark 9-3 in a Class 5 District 6 opening-round game. Going back to the Lady Eagles' regular-season finale against Halfway on Saturday, it gave her a home run in three straight at-bats.

Vincent set herself up for success by working Lady Tigers starting pitcher Jordyn Foley to counts of 3-0 and 3-1.

"She threw me three balls in a row, so I was thinking maybe she wasn't going to throw me a strike," Vincent said. "Then, she threw me one down the middle. I thought, 'That's OK, I'll get the next one.' Then, she threw me one outside and I took it that way."

Vincent had the green light on 3-0, but wasn't going to go out of her way to swing.

"I'm one of those hitters on 3-0 that if it's not perfect, I'm not going to swing," she said. "You have to have an approach when you're at-bat. If you don't have an approach, you don't know what to do. I go up there and know what pitch I'm looking for. If I'm ahead in the count and don't get the pitch I want, I'm not going to try to hit it. She threw me a strike on 3-0, but that doesn't mean it was my pitch. The next one was my pitch. I'm grateful she threw me a strike I could hit. I was ready to hit."

Vincent's blast gave Nixa a 3-0 lead and was part of a five-run first inning for the Lady Eagles.

"Emma got a pitch she could jump on," coach Matt Walker said. "She's seeing the ball well and swinging well."

The early uprising also included a walk by Katie Faulk, a single by Phoebe Gardner, a single by Maddy Meierer, an Ozark error on a bunt, a wild pitch that allowed Meierer to score and an RBI-single by Morgan Delloma.

Nixa (15-11) went on to add two runs in the fourth and two more in the sixth.

For a team that had struggled to meet its expectations all season, the Lady Eagles were proud how they responded to post-season ball. Also, even though Nixa was 1-18 against Ozark in the teams' previous 19 meetings, the Lady Eagles' mindset didn't include intimidation against the Lady Tigers.

"All day I was thinking, 'I feel like we're going to beat them today,'" winning pitcher Maddy Meierer said. "We wanted to keep playing and it's our biggest rival, so that pushed us even more. Also, we should have beat them the last time we played them (a 3-2 regular-season loss). That also pushed us. We showed up today and finally played like we know we can."

"We jumped on top and stayed on top,' Faulk said. "We've struggled getting ahead early this season. Today, we had the mindset we were going to get on them early and stay on them the rest of the game."

"We set the tone early and that allowed us to take a deep breath," Walker said. "Then, we kept playing hard."

Nixa finished with 11 hits. Meierer and Gardner both had three hits and Faulk had two, including a solo home run.

Meierer scattered eight hits while striking out five, walking one and hitting two batters.

Meierer did her best pitching against Ozark's best hitters, Kenna Mayfield and Emily Schmucker. They were a combined 2-for-7, with both hits being singles.

In the teams' regular-season meeting, Mayfield doubled and Schmucker hit a two-run homer off of Meierer.

"There were a few batters I pitched outside to and about seven batters I pitched inside, too," Meierer said. "I was focused on Schmucker because she hit a home run off of me the last time we played them. I pitched her all inside, except for a couple changeups outside."

Ozark (15-15) received two hits apiece from Maddi Spies and Lauren Brice. Hattie Depee relieved Foley in the second inning and pitched the final 5.2 innings.

Nixa advances to play No. 1 seeded Kickapoo (21-3) in a semifinal today at 4:30 p.m. Pitcher Emily Flacklam and the Lady Chiefs have outscored the Lady Eagles 30-4 in the teams' last three meetings.

"I think we're going to give them a run for their money," Meierer said. 

"With the way we're playing right now, we can do it," Vincent said. "We all know our strengths and weaknesses, what we can and cannot do. It's all meshing together."

"Kickapoo is a tough team. They didn't get the number one seed for nothing," Walker said. "We'll have to grind and battle and see what happens."