All good things have to come to an end, and EMU's season-long home winning streak finally fell in a game two loss to Roanoke Friday in Harrisonburg. The softball women powered to a 7-3 win in the opener of the ODAC twinbill before being hurt by errors in an 8-5 loss, their first on Gehman Field in eight games in 2016.

The Royals are 21-9 after the day, including a third-place mark in the ODAC at 8-4. With 10 more games left in the regular season, they are already tied for the seventh-most wins in program history.

The women head into a busy week packed with important contests, hosting ODAC preseason-favorite Randolph-Macon on Tuesday followed by nationally-ranked Messiah on Thursday. After a set at Randolph next Saturday, the Royals play their home finale against Lynchburg on Sunday, April 17.

EMU 7, Roanoke 3
The Maroons took the first lead in the opener, using a leadoff single to make it 1-0 on a fielder's choice. But EMU's offense quickly got in control.

Carli Hill (Staunton, Va./Fort Defiance) opened the bottom of the first with a single and Tiffani Shaheen (Fluvanna, Va./Fluvanna County) followed with a double. The women ended up scoring three times, all with two outs, to jump in front, 3-1.

The hits kept coming as Danyele Smith (Broadway, Va./Broadway) poked an RBI single in the second and Hill did the same thing in the third for a 5-1 edge.

Roanoke stemmed the tide with a single run in the fourth, before Lauren Seale (Madison, Va./Madison County) and Hill launched out solo homeruns in the fifth for a 7-2 margin.

The Maroons managed an unearned run in the sixth before pitcher Sydney Reath (Chambersburg, Pa./Mercersburg Academy) closed the door.

Hill paced a 14-hit attack by going a perfect 4-4 from the leadoff spot. The sophomore hit her third homerun of the season and scored twice with two RBIs. Reath and Angelia Miller (Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby) each had two hits and a walk, while Shaheen also had a pair of hits. Smith drove in two runs.

Reath pitched all seven innings, scattering six hits and two earned runs.

Roanoke 8, EMU 5
The nightcap had a frenetic ending.

Roanoke again scored in the first with the Royals soon taking over. Smith had RBIs in the first and third, as the women took a 3-1 lead.

The Maroons cut the margin in half with a solo shot in the fifth, then scored two unearned runs in the sixth to nudge ahead 4-3.

Smith hit a one-out single in the bottom of the frame, but had to wait for a two-out double from Aislinn Lucas (Grottoes, Va./Fort Defiance) to leg it all the way around to tie things up at 4-4. After a pitching change, Reath ripped a single to left center and Lucas came around to push the Royals back into the lead, 5-4.

But the visitors weren't done, opening the seventh with four straight hits to once again turn the tables and get in front. Roanoke added a pair of two-out insurance runs for an 8-5 margin.

The Royals went down in order in their final at-bat, suffering a gut-wrenching loss.

EMU had a 9-8 advantage in hits, but committed three errors and gave up three unearned runs in what turned out to be the final margin.

Smith was the only player with multiple hits, finishing 2-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Hill and Lucas each had a hit, run and RBI. It was also just the fourth time all year where the Royals failed to draw a walk.

Seale started in the circle but was chased after 5.0+ innings. She allowed four runs, although only one was earned. Reath was tagged for four scores in 2.0 innings and settled at 9-7 after earning both decisions on the day.

Coach JD McCurdy said that games like the error-plagued nightcap happen from time to time: