Eastern Mennonite picked up a pair of hard-fought, one-run wins Thursday at Roanoke College, putting the women in control of earning a spot in next week's ODAC Tournament.

The softball women had been on the outside looking in at the eight-team field, but the sweep of the Maroons bumped their conference record to 8-9-1, vaulting EMU two spots to seventh in the league standings.  The Royals now just need to hold serve in their regular season finale at last-place Sweet Briar to punch their ticket to Salem.

EMU 2, Roanoke 1 – 8 innings
Despite the low score, the opener was far from a pitcher's duel, as the teams combined for 10 runners left on base over the first five innings.  The Royals finally dented home in the top of the sixth.

Molly Smith (Elkton, Va./Spotswood) drew a one-out walk and Brooke Hensley (Elkton, Va./Spotswood) followed with a double.  Mariah Foltz (Broadway, Va./Broadway) grounded out to first, but Smith made the heads up run home for a 1-0 lead.  EMU still left the bases loaded in the sixth and the seventh, and it nearly came back to hurt the women as the Maroons led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo homerun to tie the score and force extra innings.

The Royals went back in front with an RBI groundout from Angelia Miller (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) in the eighth, plating their placed runner.  However, the women left an insurance run stranded at third base with back-to-back groundouts.

Jordan Aylor (Madison, Va./Madison County) did her job from the circle in the bottom of the frame though, getting three infield outs to secure the 2-1 win.

Aylor went the distance as the pitcher, scattering seven hits in 8.0 innings while striking out five.

Aislinn Lucas (Grottoes, Va./Fort Defiance) batted 3-3 while Hensley was 2-3.

EMU 3, Roanoke 2
The Royals didn't let up in the nightcap, taking a 1-0 lead with an RBI single from Aylor in the third.  Nicolette Cuevas (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork) had two-out RBI single in the fourth and Foltz had another clutch two-out hit in the fifth to give EMU a 3-0 edge.

Roanoke finally put their offense together in the sixth, loading the bases with one out.  A sacrifice fly brought in their first run, but an interference play on a runner ended the rally.  The Maroons scored once more in their final at-bat, bringing in a run with the help of two wild pitches.  But Cara Neikirk (Salem, Va./Glenvar) kept RC off balance enough to get the second one-run victory of the day.

Neikirk improved to 5-6 as she only allowed six hits and one earned run.

Cuevas led the offense with a 2-2 showing, scoring once and driving in a second run.  Lucas was 1-2 with a walk and run.  Aylor was 2-4 with an RBI and Brooke Sigrist (Crimora, Va./Fort Defiance) was 2-4 with a stolen base and run scored.

Saturday's doubleheader at Sweet Briar starts at 1:00pm.  The ODAC Tournament bracket won't be finalized until Monday night, however, due to a number of conference games being postponed to Monday.  The double elimination tourney starts next Friday at the Moyer Complex in Salem, Va.