EMU's softball women rallied in the nightcap, earning a split with Messiah College Thursday in Harrisonburg. The Falcons are ranked No. 16 in this week's NFCA National Poll.

Eastern Mennonite is now 24-10 overall. At 10-4 in the league, the women return to ODAC play this weekend for their final conference sets of the season. Saturday they play at Randolph College, starting at 3:00pm. Sunday Lynchburg College comes for a visit on Parent and Senior Recognition Day. While first pitch is at 1:30pm, there will be pre-game ceremonies at 1:15pm honoring Kaitlin Aylor, an incoming student-athlete who lost her life in an accident before what would have been her freshman year in August of 2014.

The women wrap up the regular season with a non-conference doubleheader at McDaniel next week Sunday. The ODAC Tournament starts April 29 in Salem, Va.

Messiah 7, EMU 2
The Royals dug themselves in a hole in game one. In both the second and fourth innings, Becky Notte led off by reaching on an error. Each in frame, the women earned one out before serving up a homerun ball to Erin Cressman, each time to center field.

EMU, meanwhile, was getting hits but couldn't string anything together. They left two runners on base in the second, third and sixth innings. In the fifth, the first two runners reached base but a line drive double play stifled the rally.

The Falcons added a single run in the fifth before another two-run dinger in the sixth made it 7-0.

Janna Williams (Kenbridge, Va./Kenston Forest) led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk and Carli Hill (Staunton, Va./Fort Defiance) followed with a double. Two runs scored before Messiah closed the door, but the late run helped give EMU's offense a shot of momentum later on for the nightcap.

Each team had seven hits in the game, but the Royals added four walks and ended up leaving 10 runners on base. Hill was 2-3 with a run while Danyele Smith (Broadway, Va./Broadway) was 1-2 with two walks.

Lauren Seale (Madison, Va./Madison County) pitched 5.0+ innings and took the loss, giving up all seven runs. Williams allowed just one hit in 2.0 frames of relief.

EMU 6, Messiah 5
After sending the Falcons down in order to start game two, the Royals went to work quickly as Hill led off with an infield single. With two outs, Smith sent a single to bring in Hill to the first lead. Angelia Miller (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) later singled to bring in Smith, making it 2-0.

Messiah batted eight players in the second, however, scoring three runs to skip in front. Mariah Foltz (Broadway, Va./Broadway) hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the frame, leaving things tied at 3-3 after two innings.

The Falcons weren't done, however, going back up 4-3 with a sacrifice fly in the third.

Eastern Mennonite took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth, started by Hill's one-out walk. Tiffani Shaheen (Fluvanna, Va./Fluvanna County) singled up the middle, triggering a pitching change for MC. Foltz greeted reliever Madelyn Yannetti with a three-run bomb to left-center, vaulting the Royals to a 6-4 lead.

Messiah used a leadoff triple in the fifth to score once, cutting the edge to 6-5. The visitors rallied again in the seventh, started by a leadoff double. Smith made a head-ups play on a ground ball to shortstop, cutting the runner down, but the Falcons added a bloop double to put runners back on second and third with only one out.

Pitcher Sydney Reath (Chambersburg, Pa./Mercersburg Academy) worked around Cressman, who had the two homeruns in the opener, loading the bases with a walk. Reath then got an infield pop-up for the second out and whiffed the next batter to leave the bases packed and give the Royals the win.

Foltz finished 2-3 with four RBIs and her first homerun of the season. Shaheen batted 2-3 with a run. Hill and Smith each had a hit and a walk, and each accounted for two runs.

Reath allowed 13 hits, but got the outs she needed in the seventh to get the win.

Coach JD McCurdy said his women showed their character by forging a split with a nationally-ranked team: