Last year, the top two seeds were the two teams to go home after day one of the ODAC Softball Tournament, thanks in part to Eastern Mennonite pulling a first-round upset. This year, the Lady Royals entered as the top seed and were themselves victims of a first-round upset as all four of the top seeds lost their first game. Facing elimination in a losers' bracket game at 4:00, the women jumped on Randolph-Macon and advanced with a tight 2-1 victory in Salem, Va.

Unlike in their opening round loss to Randolph, the Lady Royals scored first against R-MC. Lisa Lee (Buckingham, Va./Buckingham County) reached on a two-out error in the bottom fo the first. After stealing second base, Lee scored the game's first run on a double from Molly Smith (Elkton, Va./Spotswood).

Senior Jessica Sullivan (Midlothian, Va./Manchester) led off the second with a single. Rasheeda Crews (Brookneal, Va./William Campbell) took over on base after she hit into a fielder's choice and Sara Jenkins (Stanley, Va./Page County) followed with a long single. Crews sped around the bases and scored, making it 2-0.

Randolph-Macon, which swept the season series between the two teams, took advantage of an EMU error in the fourth to score an unearned run. But starter Molly Smith (Elkton, Va./Spotswood) struck out two straight Yellow Jackets to strand two runners and preserve the lead at 2-1.

The game sailed into the seventh when R-MC provided some drama by drawing a lead-off walk from Lee, who had entered in the fifth inning. A sacrifice moved the tying run to second and an error added another runner on first. But Lee coaxed out a pair of grounders to seal the 2-1 victory.

Smith (8-5) and Lee combined to limit the Yellow Jackets to four hits. Smith pitched the first four innings and allowed the one unearned run on three hits. Lee threw the final three, allowing just one hit and earning the save.

Sullivan had two of EMU's five hits. Smith had a double and RBI while Jenkins also had a hit and an RBI. Megan Viafora (Stanley, Va./Page County) had the only other hit. Neither Lee nor Crews, who scored the two runs, reached base with a hit.

The win continues the Lady Royals' season. At 26-12, the women advance in the tourney's losers' bracket and play Friday morning at 11:00am against No. 7 Lynchburg, which lost 6-2 to No. 6 Virginia Wesleyan in a winners' bracket contest. EMU swept the Hornets during the regular season. They will need to win three games to advance to Saturday's championship game.