The No. 2-ranked Emory softball team dropped both games of a doubleheader at Birmingham Southern on Saturday afternoon. The No. 14-ranked Panthers raised their record to 27-6 following 6-4 and 4-1 decisions over the Eagles who fell to 32-4.

In the second contest, BSC pitcher Haley Crumpton upped her season record to 5-2, hurling a complete game and limiting the Eagles to five hits while issuing a pair of walks and striking out seven. Emory sophomore first baseman Ashley Powers extended her hitting streak to seven games, going 1-for-3 at the plate and accounting for the team's lone run with her two-out double in the top of the sixth scoring junior Taylor Forte. Freshman Jenna Wilson collected a pair of hits in three plate appearances from the designated player position, which represented her seventh multi-hit effort of the campaign.  BSC scored three runs in its half of the third with Maddie Ridgway and Savannah Lee coming through with RBI doubles.  The Panthers scored their other run in the sixth when Torrie Gardner socked a solo homer. Eagle rookie pitcher Madeline Maday took the loss, hurling the first two innings while junior Brittany File came on in relief over the final four frames.

In the opener, Emory totaled 10 hits with Pollard, Taylor Forte, Melody Carter and Ashley Powers all collecting a pair of safeties.  Pollard scored three times while Janelle Turnquest drove in a pair of runs, her 15^th multi-RBI performance of the year. The Eagles got on the board early with a two-run first inning that saw Carter triple in Pollard, who led off the game with a walk and then advanced to second following a sacrifice by Forte.  Powers then singled in Carter.  After countering with a run in their half of the first, the Panthers tacked two runs on the board in the third, courtesy of a two-run double by Micaela Beck. The Panthers extended their lead to 6-2 in the fourth frame, scoring three times with a RBI single by Maddie Ridgway and a two-run double by Crumpton the key blows.  A sacrifice fly by Turnquest pushed Pollard across the plate in the fifth, allowing the Eagles to draw to within three runs.  In its last at-bat, Emory scored once with another sac fly by Turnquest plating Pollard.  The Eagles had a pair runners on base with two out, but came up shy in their comeback bid.  Taylor Harkins picked up the win for the Panthers, tossing all seven innings and striking out seven in upping her season ledger to 16-2.   Brittany File took the setback, just her second in 26 decisions, going all six innings and allowing six hits while fanning seven.

Emory returns to action on Thursday (Apr. 14) when it travels to Macon to play a doubleheader at Wesleyan College starting at 5:00 pm.