Emory Softball Puts Six On All-UAA Honors List -- Megan Light Named MVP & Rookie of the Year

Six members of the No. 2-ranked Emory University softball squad have been selected to the 2011 All-University Athletic Association Team.  The all-league honorees were chosen by the conference coaches based on their entire play this season. 

The Eagles of Head Coach Penny Siqueiros placed five players on the All-UAA First Team and one on the second team.  Freshman Megan Light (Atlanta, GA) headlined the Eagles’ first-team honorees by being named both the conference Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year.  It is the fourth time that an Emory player has been chosen as the UAA MVP and the first since 2003 (Tamara Boggs).  Other first-team nods went to junior catcher Jessica Boni (Fuquay, VA), freshman pitcher Lena Brottman (Palatine, IL), freshman outfielder Lauren Gorodetsky (Palm City, FL) and junior outfielder Jessica Thomas (Springfield, VA). 

Junior pitcher Bridget Holloway (Sparta, IL) rounded out the honorees with a spot on the second team.

Light, who has played in all 43 Emory games, has played a key role in helping the team to an overall record of 40-2-1.  Through games played May 2, she leads the team and the UAA in batting (.465), total hits (59), slugging percentage (.811), RBIs (59) and total bases (103).  Her 59 RBIs are a school seasonal record and she has socked eight homers, tying for the second-highest seasonal standard in school history.  She leads the Eagles with 19 multi-hit contests and has produced a team-leading 16 outings of two or more RBIs.  A two-time UAA Player of the Week, earlier in the year she was named to the UAA All-Tournament team after hitting .526 (13-for-23) and totaling a conference-leading 16 RBIs in keying the team to the championship with an 8-0 mark.

Boni, a starter in 36 of the 39 games she has seen action in, has been rock-solid behind the plate and holds down the No. 3 spot on the club and No. 8 position among UAA players with a .396 hitting mark.  The owner of nine multi-hit performances and seven multiple-RBI contests, she is third on the team in hits (44), RBIs (32) and doubles (9).  She closed out the regular season by hitting safely in nine of her last 10 contests, hitting .437 (14-of-32) in that stretch.


Brottman has bolstered the mound corps with a 16-1 overall record along with a UAA-leading ERA of 1.17 that ranks among the top 20 nationally.  She has drawn a team-high 21 starts in the circle this year and has totaled 14 complete games.  She has struck out 98 batters, 11^th on Emory’ seasonal list, including a personal high of 10 against Huntingdon College on April 5.  She has crafted five shutouts including a four-hit, complete-game gem against regionally ranked Piedmont College on April 21 in a 3-0 victory.  Earlier in the campaign, she was named to the All-UAA Tournament Team after chalking up  a 3-0 ledger with an ERA of 0.00 over 12 innings of action.

Gorodetsky has taken to the field in 39 games, 38 as a starter, and is second on the squad in hitting (players with more than 30 at bats) with a .393 mark.  She leads the team and is No. 2 among UAA players with 16 stolen bases, good for the No. 4 slot on Emory’s seasonal chart.  The owner of 11 multi-hit games, she is third on the squad in walks and second in sacrifice hits.  She has been selected as the UAA Player of the Week on two occasions, most recently on Apr. 25 after hitting .769 (10-for-13) with four RBIs and three runs scored in doubleheader sweeps at Piedmont (Apr. 21) and Maryville (Apr. 23). Defensively, she has handled all 57 of her chances flawlessly.

Thomas, an All-UAA First Team pick in 2010, has been a key cog in the high-powered Emory offensive attack this year that has produced 300 runs, the third highest-total in school history.  A starter in 40 games, she is hitting at a .385 clip (45-of-117) and has socked a total of 11 homers, tops among UAA players and an Emory seasonal record.  Her 46 RBIs rank second on the club and third in the UAA and she stands third in the league in slugging percentage (.786).  She has come through with 14 multi-RBI games and a dozen with two or more hits.  She was picked as the UAA All-Tournament Co-MVP after hitting .529 with 10 RBIs and conference-leading 13 runs scored.  The school’s all-time leader with 23 home runs, she is eighth on the Eagles’ career chart with 123 RBIs.

Despite missing almost a month of action with an injury, Holloway has returned to the lineup and will head into the postseason with a won-lost record of 17-1 with her victory total pacing all UAA hurlers.  Her ERA of 1.25 is second among conference pitchers and in NCAA statistics from Apr. 24, she ranked first nationally in fewest walks allowed per seven innings (0.36). She picked up two victories over regionally ranked Piedmont on Mar. 23, the first coming in a scoreless 1 2/3 innings relief stint, and the second a complete-game, three-hit shutout in a 3-0 triumph.  She was named the UAA Tournament Co-MVP after posting a 4-0 record with an ERA of 0.70 over 20 innings of action.

Finally, Siqueiros, along with assistants Roger Fannon, Gary Anderson, Keaton Willis and Johnny Thomas, were picked as the UAA Coaching Staff of the Year.  It marks the fifth time that an Emory coaching staff has been tabbed for that honor.