Junior Sierra Lantz (Broadway, Va./Broadway) put on a power display with three home runs Saturday at Ferrum College, but it wasn't enough as the EMU softball team dropped a pair to the Panthers.

The Royals will need to keep their offensive momentum in motion on Tuesday when they host Virginia Wesleyan at 3:00pm. The Marlins (23-3-1) enter as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Ferrum 6, EMU 4
If it wasn't for the first inning, the Royals would have won the opener against FC. The Panthers wrapped four hits and two walks around an EMU error to score five times.

Eastern Mennonite spend the rest of the time playing catch-up, and played that role quite well.

Lantz started things off with a three-run homer with two outs in the third, crushing the first pitch of her at-bat to straightaway center field. She made it a one-run game in her next at-bat, hitting the gap in left center for her second home run of the game.

But the Panthers added an insurance run in the bottom of the frame, and then got a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to hold on.

Lantz finished 2-4 with all four of the team's RBIs. Bri Allen (Weyers Cave, Va./Fort Defiance) had a pair of singles and scored a run.

Emily Campbell (Broadway, Va./Broadway) worked the first inning from the circle and took the loss. Katelin Martin (Goochland, Va./Goochland) allowed just one run in 5.0 frames of relief.

Ferrum 9, EMU 3
The Panthers again struck early in the second game. This time they put together eight hits in their first at-bat, plating six runs and chasing Martin from the circle.

Lantz drove in an unearned run in the top of the third, but Ferrum turned three walks into three more runs in the bottom of the frame for a 9-1 lead.

In the fifth, Lantz went yard for the third time in the day, clearing the fence again in left center. Korenn Paige (Winchester, Va./Sherando) doubled to lead off the seventh and came in on a two-out double from Elizabeth Horn (Dover, Del./Polytech), but the Royals left 11 runners on base to leave themselves short in the game.

Allen had a three-hit performance from the lead-off spot. Lantz, Paige and Emily Davis (King George, Va./Fredericksburg Christian) each had two hits in the game.

Martin was tagged with the loss, getting charged with all six runs from the first inning. Campbell threw the final 5.2 innings.