Despite scoring first in both of their home games with Emory & Henry on Saturday, the Eastern Mennonite softball women had to settle for just one win.  The Wasps won the back-and-forth opener in extra innings before EMU took over in the nightcap.

Emory & Henry 6, EMU 4
The Royals worked ahead 3-0 in the first game, with Nicolette Cuevas (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork) smacking a two-run triple in the second inning followed by an RBI single in the fourth.  Both clutch hits came with two outs.  With the aid of two EMU errors, Emory & Henry tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth.

The women nearly took the lead back in the bottom of the sixth, but had a runner cut down on a botched squeeze play.  Each team then left a runner on base in the seventh as the game slid into extra innings.

In the eighth, the Wasps scored their free runner with an RBI double.  But with runners on second and third and nobody out, pitcher Cara Neikirk (Salem, Va./Glenvar) got three outs through the air to keep it a one-run game.  E&H nearly won it in the bottom of the eighth, but the Royals brought home their runner on a two-out error.

The visitors scored twice in the ninth to go back in front, and EMU left two runners on base in their half of the inning to get stuck with the loss.

The Royals had just six hits in the game, highlighted by Cuevas going 2-4 with three RBIs.  Aislinn Lucas (Grottoes, Va./Fort Defiance) was 2-4 with two runs.  Angelia Miller (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) reached base three times with two walks and a single.

Neikirk went the distance from the circle, falling to 3-4 with the loss.  Just two of E&H's runs were earned.

EMU 8, Emory & Henry 3
The women assured themselves of victory in the nightcap by scoring in five of their six at-bats.  Mariah Foltz (Broadway, Va./Broadway) had a two-out RBI single in the first, and Brooke Sigrist (Crimora, Va./Fort Defiance) had one in the second for a 2-0 lead.

Emory & Henry scored once in the top of the third, but Brooke Hensley (Elkton, Va./Spotswood) started a three-run rally in EMU's half of the inning.  The senior shot a one-out homer over the left field fence, and Lucas and Cuevas each had RBI doubles to make it 5-1.

In the fifth the Wasps scored twice to get back within two runs, but Eastern Mennonite put the game away with three more tallies in the fifth and sixth for the final 8-3 margin.

The Royals had 13 hits in the nightcap, led by both Foltz and Lucas going 3-4.  Foltz scored twice with one RBI while Lucas has two RBIs and a run scored.  Hensley finished 2-3 with a walk, scoring twice and adding an RBI on her second homerun of the season.  Sigrist had two this and Cuevas added two RBIs.

Jordan Aylor (Madison, Va./Madison County) allowed just three hits in the complete game win as she improved to 4-6.  Only one run was earned.

Eastern Mennonite is 9-12-1 after the split, including 4-5-1 in the ODAC.  Halfway through their conference schedule, the women sit in the middle of a heated ODAC pack, with just three wins separating second place from tenth place in the standings.  The Royals have a non-conference doubleheader with Juniata at home on Tuesday, starting at 3:00pm.

Coach J.D. McCurdy recaps the doubleheader with Emory & Henry: