With some timely hitting and good pitching, the EMU softball women earned a 3-1 win over Lynchburg College to advance to the ODAC Championship game. The Royals will play top-seeded Virginia Wesleyan at 11:00am on Sunday in Salem, Va., trying to win their first ODAC crown since 2010.

To claim the title, Eastern Mennonite will need two wins over the Marlins, who are ranked No. 3 in the NFCA National Poll. Virginia Wesleyan, still undefeated in the double-elimination tourney, only needs to win one game.

The start time of the contest was moved up due to forecasted rains.

Now 31-13, EMU also broke their program record for wins in a season.

The Royals had opened Saturday in the winner's bracket of the ODAC Tournament, but were handed a loss by Virginia Wesleyan. That set up a late game with Lynchburg, who had used a pair of extra-inning wins to stay alive in the tourney.

Virginia Wesleyan 6, EMU 2
Despite out-hitting VWC, the Royals couldn't dig themselves out of an early hole. A leadoff walk by the Marlins' All-American, Courtney Bogan, spelled trouble, as Virginia Wesleyan scored four times for a quick lead.

The women left two runners on base in the top of the second, and then committed a pair of errors in the bottom of the frame, gifting VWC a pair of unearned runs for a 6-0 deficit.

EMU finally got some momentum in the third, as Carli Hill (Staunton, Va./Fort Defiance) led off with a single and eventually scored on an RBI groundout from Angelia Miller (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby). She did the same thing in the fifth, and scored her second run on a two-out single from Danyele Smith (Broadway, Va./Broadway).

Pitcher Lauren Seale (Madison, Va./Madison County) settled down in the circle, and didn't allow a hit in the third, fourth or fifth innings. She also worked out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth, getting three straight pop-ups.

But the offense couldn't break through managing only a double from Aislinn Lucas (Grottoes, Va./Fort Defiance) over the final two frames.

The Royals got to the nation's best pitching team to the tune of nine hits, scoring two runs on a staff who entered with a combined ERA of 0.91.

Carli Hill finished 3-4 with two runs while Smith was 2-3 with an RBI. EMU was also held without a walk for just the seventh time in 43 games this season. The women are 3-4 in those contests.

Seale fell to 11-5 with the loss.

EMU 3, Lynchburg 1
Facing Lynchburg in an elimination game, the Royals got on the board first with back-to-back RBI doubles from Smith and Miller, giving the women a 2-0 lead.

Freshman pitcher Sydney Reath (Chambersburg, Pa./Mercersburg Academy) was hitting her spots, limiting the Hornets to only two hits through the first four innings.

Lucas singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth and stood on second after Reath put down the sacrifice bunt. Payton Hill (Staunton, Va./Fort Defiance) then smashed a double to the gap in right-center and Lucas came around to score for a 3-0 margin.

Lynchburg finally put together some hits in the fifth, stringing together four singles. But EMU's defense limited LC to one run, as center fielder Tiffani Shaheen (Fluvanna, Va./Fluvanna County) threw out a runner at third base and Mariah Foltz (Broadway, Va./Broadway) made a great pickup on a hard-hit grounder to end the inning, leaving the bases loaded.

Reath then returned to her controlling ways in the circle, allowing just one base runner over the final two innings to wrap up the win. She improved to 12-7 with the complete game.

Payton Hill was the only Royal with multiple hits as she was 2-3 with a pair of doubles.

Coach JD McCurdy said his players have gotten the hits when they needed this at the ODAC Tournament: