The No. 22 ranked Emory University softball team split a mid-week doubleheader with Gettysburg College Tuesday afternoon at Cooper Field in Atlanta.
The Eagles rallied for a 9-7 win in the day's opener but fell in the second game of the double dip, 11-4, to move to 7-7 on the season.
Game 1: Emory 9, Gettysburg 7
The Bullets struck for five runs across their first two times at the plate and the Eagles countered with two coming around to score in the second with a Lillian Ware RBI-groundout and freshman Zoe Horning scampering home on a wild pitch as the visitors led 5-2 after two.
Senior Ella Hoyle was a key contributor to the Emory comeback over the third and fourth frames as she plated four runs as the Eagles scored seven unanswered to take a 9-5 advantage. Hoyle picked up a pair of two-run singles both times at the plate and junior Ellie Zerr added a two-run, go-ahead single as part of Emory's five-run fifth.
After Gettysburg notched five runs to start the game, junior Lexi Bach kept the Bullets off the scoreboard for four frames with a strong relief outing. Back allowed two runs, one earned, in 4.2 innings as she scattered seven hits and one walk to earn the win.
Gettysburg threatened again in the top of the seventh with two runs as three of their first four batters reached based. Senior Mackenzie Duford, who started the game for the Eagles, reentered in the inning and retired both batters she faced to lock down the save.
Game 2: Gettysburg 11, Emory 4
Defensive miscues were the crucial factor in the second game of the afternoon as six Emory errors led to six unearned runs as the Bullets salvaged the split.
Much of the damage was done from Gettysburg's third inning where the Bullets sent 14 batters to the plate with nine coming around to score.
Trailing 11-1, the Eagles staved off the mercy rule with a Makaila Hope pinch-hit RBI ground out in the fourth and a two-run double by Horning in the fifth but Emory was unable to muster rallies in either the sixth and seventh frames.
The Eagles will remain home this weekend as Emory hosts Pfeiffer and Lewis & Clark in the two-day Eagles Elite Invitational. Tripleheaders in Atlanta on both Friday and Saturday will get underway at 10:00 AM from Cooper Field.
