Harrisonburg, Va. -- University of Lynchburg's softball team got back on the winning track in a big way Saturday, sweeping Eastern Mennonite 6-5 and 8-5 in both teams' Old Dominion Athletic Conference opener.

The Hornets' extra-inning win in the opener earned career win No. 650 for head coach Dawn Simmons. Lynchburg's mentor of 24 seasons became the 33rd softball coach in NCAA Division III history and the first from the ODAC to reach the milestone. She ranks 16th among active D3 coaches in wins.

Things did not start on the right foot for the Hornets. Lynchburg loaded the bases in the first inning of Game 1 but could not bring anyone in to score, and the Royals drew first blood with three runs in the bottom half of the inning and held that 3-0 lead through two innings of play.

Lexi Powell led off the third with a single and came around to score on Karle Cundiff's RBI single to cut the lead to 3-1. Powell sparked another Hornet rally in the fifth with another leadoff single. With two out in the inning, Kaleigh Hackett delivered a game-tying two-run single, and Addison Walter followed with a two-run homer that put Lynchburg in the lead.

Down to their final out, EMU rallied to tie the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game into extra innings.

Lynchburg wasted no time regaining the lead. Gracie Dooley delivered a go-ahead single with one out in the top of the eighth, bringing Hackett in to score, and Kailey Dorcsis struck out the side in the bottom to cinch the milestone victory for Simmons and the Hornets.

Lynchburg had a similar flair for the dramatic in the nightcap. EMU took an early 3-0 lead with a trio of unearned runs against starter Emily Charlton. The Hornets came up with the answer in the top of the fourth. Powell got things going with a one-out base hit that Sophie Tully followed with a knock of her own. After a Royals error loaded the bases, Cundiff slugged a grand slam to left field to put Lynchburg ahead, 4-3.

EMU took advantage of another Lynchburg error to tie the game in the fourth, and the teams went into the sixth inning tied, 4-4.

Cundiff came to the plate with two outs in the top of the sixth and delivered another big hit, an RBI double to right-center that plated Hackett, and the Lynchburg third baseman came around on Walter's RBI single for a two-run Hornet lead.

Lynchburg scored twice more in the top of the seventh on RBI hits by Anna Grace Terrell and Tully, and Charlton polished off the complete-game victory in the seventh. The lefty scattered seven Royals hits and allowed just one earned run for her fifth win of 2022.

The Hornets (11-11, 2-0 ODAC) will look to keep the winning streak alive Sunday with a home doubleheader against Bridgewater. Lynchburg softball will celebrate Military Appreciation Day prior to the 1:30 p.m. first pitch.

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--LYN--