Softball | 3/1/2013 7:51:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Methodist softball team opened play in the Virginia Wesleyan Beach Blast with a pair of losses on Friday evening. The Monarchs fell to Randolph-Macon, 3-1, to open the day, followed by an 8-5 loss to Eastern Mennonite to close out play.
 
In the opener, the Yellow Jackets took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run homer and would hold that lead until the fifth inning. In the fifth, MU's Katie Byrd it a solo home run, her second in the last three games, to halve the Monarchs' deficit at 2-1, but R-MC answered with another run in the sixth inning to take a 3-1 lead and hold off the Methodist.
 
The Monarchs were held to just six hits in the contest as MU saw a four-game winning streak snapped.
 
In the Monarchs' second game of the day, EMU held on for an 8-5 victory. EMU took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning before MU countered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to make it a 3-2 ballgame. Eastern Mennonite stretched its lead out to 6-2 with three more runs in the second inning and added two more runs in the fourth to go up 8-2.
 
Methodist inched back into the game with three runs in the sixth inning to pull within three at 8-5 and had the go-ahead run at the plate in the seventh inning. In the seventh, Lindsay Tippett led off with a single and moved to second on a base hit from Natalie High. The Monarchs followed with a pair of fielder's choice ground balls and a walk that loaded the bases with two outs. However, a ground ball back to the pitcher ended the game and moved MU to 5-3 on the season.
 
Full boxscores were not available from either contest.
 
The Monarchs are back at it on Saturday when they will take on Shenandoah at 2:00 pm, followed by a matchup with Salisbury at 4:00 pm.