BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater Eagles pitching staff allowed five homeruns to a hard hitting Eastern Mennonite Royals squad as the Eagles softball squad dropped both halves of a twinbill to the Royals in the conference opener at the Bridgewater Softball Field.

In game one, Bridgewater jumped out to an early 1-0 lead off of a leadoff homerun from the bat of Hillary Rees in the bottom of the first to put the Royals at an early disadvantage.

Eastern Mennonite responded with a pair of runs of their own, including a leadoff homerun from Molly Smith, in the top of the second to take a 2-1 lead.

Both pitchers settled in over the next two and a half innings, before the Royals added three insurance runs off of a Courtney Allman blast over the left center field fence to put EMU up 5-1.

Bridgewater responded with two runs of its own to chip the lead down to a 5-3 Eastern Mennonite advantage.

The Royals tagged two more runs on the board in the top of the seventh as they took game one by a 7-3 score over the Eagles.

Rees led the Eagles at the plate in game one with a 1-for-4 performance.

In the circle, Heather Jenkins picked up the loss, allowing seven runs on 10 hits while striking out four.

Eastern Mennonite was led at the plate by a 3-for-4 game from Allman. The Royals second baseman drove in three runs in the win and scored once.

Hurler Lisa Lee picked up the win for EMU, going the distance allowing three runs on five hits, striking out seven in the process.

In game two, it was all Eastern Mennonite early as the Royals jumped out a 4-0 lead in the second inning.

Bridgewater clawed back with a four run inning of its own in the bottom of the fourth, lead by a leadoff home run from the bat of Aven Thomas.

Eastern Mennonite regained the lead in the top of the fifth when Lee drilled her second home run of the day, this time over the center field fence to push the Royal back ahead by a 5-4 tally.

After both teams when scoreless in their ensuing at bats, the Eagles put another run on the board in the home half of the sixth to tie the game back up at five runs each.

Both teams were held off of the scoreboard in the seventh, forcing an extra frame.

Eastern Mennonite made the most of the extra inning when Megan Viafora drilled the first pitch she saw over the left field fence, scoring three runs to give the Royals an 8-5 lead.

Bridgewater had no response in the bottom of the inning as EMU left with a doubleheader sweep over the Eagles, winning game two by an 8-5 score.

Thomas and Lauren Childress led the way for Bridgewater in game two with two hits each.

In the circle, Amber Marstin picked up the loss, allowing three runs on three hits while striking out four.

A trio of Royals led the way at the plate in game two with two hits apiece.

Lee earned the victory for EMU, allowing just one run in four innings of work.  

Bridgewater is back in action tomorrow, Thursday, March 16 when the team travels to Mary Washington for an afternoon doubleheader with the Eagles.