DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle softball team led for the first five innings on Tuesday night, but a three-run sixth inning by St. Thomas put the visitors ahead for good and the home team couldn't manage a rally as they dropped their final regular season game 3-1 to STU. The Eagles (13-23, 8-8) will wait and see where they will finish in The Sun Conference standings and prepare for the conference tournament at the National Training Center in Clermont, Fla. from May 2-4. The Bobcats (17-17, 6-8) secured a berth to the conference tournament with Tuesday's victory and managed a split in the season series with the Blue and Gold.

Robi Zimmerman, who earned the first-ever Sun Conference Pitcher of the Week honor in Eagle history on Monday, kept the visitors off balance for much of the game, allowing just two hits through the first five innings, nursing a 1-0 lead. Embry-Riddle scored the only home run of the contest in the first when Jessica Osteen singled to center with runners on the corners, plating Dee Espinosa from third, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

Bobcat pitcher Brenda Emerson, after surrendering that early run to the Eagles, matched Zimmerman inning-for-inning, keeping Embry-Riddle from threatening to increase the advantage.

The last of the fourth featured three straight singles off the bats of the Blue and Gold, but baserunning errors combined with nice defensive play by the Bobcats prevented any Eagles from reaching scoring position.

Embry-Riddle had its chance in the fifth when the Eagles had the bases loaded after Sarah Huey collected her 60th hit of 2013 on a perfectly placed bunt with two runners already aboard. However, Emerson got Zimmerman to foul out down the left field line to end the inning, sending the game to the sixth where her squad would score three unanswered runs to come away with the win.

After two Bobcats had singled to begin the top of the sixth, Zimmerman struck out one STU batter and got Kandace Redondo to ground out to first for the second out, but Jessica Matias' hit a pitch off the glove of Eagle third baseman Haleigh Lewis and past the reach of shortstop Alex Wood, scoring both Bobcat baserunners for a 2-1 STU lead. The Bobcats got one more run on an RBI single to left, scoring Matias from second after she had swiped the bag, and the St. Thomas cushion was 3-1.

Emerson faced the minimum in both the sixth and seventh, getting Espinosa to ground out to short to end the contest. Emerson moved to 7-7 with her seven-inning complete game, striking out two Eagles while scattering six hits.

Zimmerman (3-12) allowed seven hits and three runs while fanning six Bobcat batters and collecting a hit in two at-bats, and Osteen went 2-for-3 with an RBI.