ST.DAVIDS, Pa.- Eastern University Softball dropped a pair of games to the visiting Diplomats of Franklin and Marshall College. The two sides played nine innings in the opener which F & M won 5-4, and the Diplomats pounded out 11 hits and took advantage of 5 Eastern errors to take game two 11-0 in five innings.

Janelle Fair took to the circle for the opener. The senior standout helped herself with a pair of hits. Her first hit led to the first Eastern run in the bottom of the first. With Kasey Williams on first, Fair singled to center. Williams was running on the pitch and slid safely into third. On the throw, Fair got herself hung up between first and second. Ultimately, Williams took advantage of the opportunity and sped home. With Fair on second, Emily Houck flied out to deep center to end the inning.

The Eagles took the lead back when Fair homered off F & M starter Kaitlin Zampino in the bottom of the third. The line-drive shot down the left field line drove in Jessi Baker. Fair's fifteenth of the year is the 13th of her career. She is currently 3rd on Eastern's career list with four games to play. As of the end of the day today, she is thirteen hits shy of the Eastern career record of 161 set by Ashlee Keyser in 2005.

Zampino, however, exacted her revenge in the top of the seventh with a towering solo shot to tie the game. The Eagles went quietly in the seventh to bring on extra innings with the international tiebreaker in effect from the start of the eighth.

Fair, Eastern's career leader in strikeouts, got the swing and miss she needed after the Diplomats had advanced the runner with a bunt.

The Eagles came to the plate with Kaley Snyder, one of the fastest players on the team placed on second. Williams dutifully laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Snyder to third. The match-up between Fair and Zampino did not happen as the Diplomats chose not to pitch to Fair and walked her intentionally. Emily Houck lined to second, and Katelyn Donald grounded out to short to end the inning.

Fair struck out the first hitter in the ninth, and Zampino flied out to center. The next batter hit a single to left off the tip of Houck's glove to score the go-ahead run. The next batter doubled to double the Diplomat lead. Eastern scored once on an Erin Johnson single, but the two-run deficit proved to be too great for the bottom half of the Eastern order to erase.

The Diplomats scored in every inning off Williams in game two. The freshman pitcher did not get a lot of help in terms of run support or defense. The Eagles committed five errors and left several other plays unmade and could only muster two hits off F & M's Justine Lohrey.

Williams had a two-out single in the first, and Houck hit a double to the fence in the fifth.

Eastern (10-24) hosts Cairn tomorrow and Delaware Valley College on Saturday.