Lynchburg College put themselves into the ODAC Championship game after defeating the Eastern Mennonite University softball team 4-2 Saturday afternoon in the second day of competition at the James I. Moyer Softball Complex in Salem, Va.

EMU drops to 30-12 on the season as #7 Lynchburg improves to 34-5. The Lady Royals will now play at 10:40 p.m., tonight against Virginia Wesleyan College.

Katie Bruce went seven innings to pick up her 18th win of the season, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits with a pair of walks and six strike outs.

EMU starting pitcher Natasha Viafora (Stanley, Va./Page Co.) got the tough luck loss, allowing four runs, only one earned, on six hits while striking out five.

Lynchburg put two on in the first inning after Viafora struck the first two Hornets out. Elizabeth Perkins walked and moved to second on a single off the bat of Tara Campbell. Viafora ended the threat, getting Dara Sandifer to pop out to Hayley Shepard (Grottoes, Va./Spotswood).

The third inning saw the Hornets put two runners on as Brittany Allsop singled with Perkins reaching on a walk. Viafora retired cleanup hitter Tara Campbell on a fly out to to Brittany Caricofe (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) and striking out Sandifer to again quell the LC offense.

Following a 20 minute lightening delay, Bruce returned to the circle and continued to hold the Lady Royal bats at bay. The LC starting pitcher held EMU hitless through three innings before Nicole Shelton (Richmond, Va./Mills E. Godwin) finally broke up the no-hit bit with a single to left.

Lynchburg was the first team on the board in the top of the fourth inning as two costly EMU errors allowed all three runs to score with two outs. Sandifer added another run on a solo shot in the fifth to push the Lynchburg advantage to four.

The Lady Royals scratched a run across in the bottom half of the frame as Kaitlyn Andrews (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby) hit a shot to deep left-field that was mishandled and allowed Viafora to cross home plate. Bruce issued a two-out walk to the next batter before getting a ground out to end the inning. EMU added another run in the bottom of the seventh after Shepard doubled down the left-field line and scored on an RBI ground out by Andrews. Bruce got the final out of the game on a ground out to seal the win and put the Hornets in the championship game.

Senior catcher Miranda White (Verona, Va./Fort Defiance) was 1-for-3 with Shepard finishing the day going 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Sarah Spicer was 1-for-3 with a run scored for LC.