The Emory University softball team split a pair of games with the visiting Bridgewater College Eagles Thursday afternoon at Cooper Field in Atlanta.

The Emory Eagles won the opening game of the day, taking the win by a 4-1 count after play resumed in the fourth inning after being halted the day before due to rain. In the second contest, Bridgewater erased a 3-1 Emory lead with four runs late to win 5-3.

Game 1: Emory 4, Bridgewater 1

Sophomore Mackenzie Duford was the star of the first game of the afternoon, tying a career-high with nine strikeouts over six innings of one-run ball to collect her third win in the circle this season.

After holding BC scoreless through three innings on Wednesday, Duford returned to the circle to complete what she had started. In the fourth, Duford worked around two baserunners to strike out the side. The BC Eagles struck for one run in the fifth but Duford bounced back in the sixth to retire all three hitters she faced to complete her outing.

Emory entered the game with a 3-0 lead after taking advantage of several Bridgewater defensive miscues on Wednesday. When play resumed, freshman Grace Cooper added a run in the fourth when she plated senior Natalie Swift with a single to center.

Swift made her 2024 pitching debut in relief of Duford in the seventh and sent down all three BC hitters she faced to earn Emory's first save of the season.

Game 2: Bridgewater 5, Emory 3

Emory held a 3-1 lead through the early stages of the game but one run in the fourth and three runs in the sixth helped Bridgewater prevail 5-3.

After a passed ball allowed BC to score the game's first run in the second, the Emory Eagles pushed across three runs in the second and third frames. Freshman Sonia Klein had the game-tying hit, scoring sophomore Ella Hoyle with a single through the right side in the second. In the third, freshman Ellie Zerr nearly missed a home run but her blast hit the top of the fence in right center and bounced back into play for a double, plating classmate Abby Wylie on the deep drive. Hoyle cashed in the next at-bat, bringing Zerr home with a single to center.

Bridgewater got one run back in the fourth against started Lexi Bach with a single by Lexi Schaaf. The comeback by the visitors continued in the sixth with three runs on four hits and took the lead with back-to-back two-out doubles into the left field corner.

Klein and Cooper put together a sixth-inning threat for Emory with one-out singles in consecutive at bats but could not bring them around to score.

Bach took the loss as she worked into the sixth while Swift was solid again out of the pen, holding BC scoreless over the final 1.1 innings.

Emory will have the weekend off before returning to Cooper Field on Tuesday, March 5 in the first of two games against Saint Benedict's.