WESTMINSTER, Md. – McDaniel erupted for 16 hits in game two to earn a doubleheader split with Eastern Mennonite in non-conference softball action on Sunday.

The Royals (28-12) took game one 13-4 in six innings before the Green Terror (21-15) rallied for a 9-5 victory in the nightcap.

Alicia Wagner (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch) led McDaniel with a 3-for-3 performance in the second game.

Sydney Reath led Eastern Mennonite with five hits in the twinbill.

Trailing 5-4 entering the bottom of the fifth in game two, Wagner led off with a single up the middle before moving to second on a wild pitch.

After Wagner was lifted for pinch-runner Roxana Aviles (Manassa, Va./Osbourn), Tayler Hishon (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) dropped a single into right field to score Aviles with the tying run.

After a pitching change, Caitlin Justice (Stuart, Fla./Jensen Beach) drew a walk and Morgan Scardina (Pasadena, Md./Seton Keough) beat out a bunt to load the bases.

Two groundouts resulted in outs at the plate before Payton Lewis (Valrico, Fla./Durant) laced a single to right and scored Scardina and Taylor Fletcher (Linden, Va./Fauquier) for a 7-5 lead.

An Olivia Kipe (Manchester, Md./Manchester Valley) ringing double to the gap plated Lindsey Miller (Gettysburg, Pa./New Oxford) and Lewis for a 9-5 advantage.

Fiona Johnson (Derwood, Md./Magruder) worked around baserunners in the sixth and seventh to close out her seventh victory of the season in the circle.

Three straight singles from Miller, Lewis and Kipe staked the Green Terror to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before Wagner laced a two-out single to score Kipe for a 2-0 lead.

A fielding error and singles by Aislinn Lucas and Payton Hill cut the deficit in half in the top of the second.

Another error, a sacrifice and Mariah Foltz double evened the game in the third.

Kipe singled off the pitcher's glove to lead off the third before Jamie Weisser (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) blasted a long ball over the fence in left-center for a 4-2 edge.

The Royals trimmed the deficit to 4-3 in the fourth before five singles resulted in a pair of fifth-inning runs.

In addition to Wagner's 3-for-3 game, Kipe went 4-for-4 while Miller, Lewis and Hishon all had two hits.

Eastern Mennonite jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning in game one keyed by a pair of bunt hits and a pair of ringing doubles.

Lauren Seale and Carli Hill launched back-to-back home runs to lead off the second and make it a 6-0 game before Weisser led off the bottom of the frame with a home run.

Miller led off the third with a line-drive home run to straightaway center field to make it a 6-2 game before a Reath home run, Lucas walk and Seale single pushed the lead back to six in the fifth.

With two outs in the sixth, the Royals scored five times keyed by a Miller two-run double and Lucas two-run home run.

A Hishon walk and Fletcher home run set the final margin in the home sixth.

Fletcher had a pair of hits in game one.

McDaniel returns to action at home against Stevenson on Wednesday. The first game of the doubleheader begins at 3 p.m.

-30-