Emory Softball Dominates With Six On All-UAA Tournament Team -- Holloway & Thomas Named Co-MVPs

The Emory softball team saw six of its members earn spots on the 12-player All-University Athletic Association (UAA) Tournament Team, based on their performance during the conference tournament, Mar. 10-14.  The Eagles captured the conference title with an 8-0 mark.

Highlighting the selections were juniors Jessica Thomas and Bridget Holloway who shared Most Valuable Player honors.  Other Eagles who were chosen included freshmen Claire Bailey, Lena Brottman and Megan Light and junior Jessica Boni.

Thomas hit .588, rapping out 10 hits in 17 trips to the plate.  Scored scored a team-high 10 runs and tied Light for the team’s lead with four homers.  She hit safely in seven of the eight outings and enjoyed three mulit-hit performances.  All four of her round trippers came within the first three games of the tourney including a pair of solo blasts against Washington University (Mar. 10).   It marks the second straight season that she has garnered a berth on the UAA All-Tournament Team.

Holloway was masterful on the mound, posting a 4-0 record that included three complete efforts in four starts. She finished with a stingy 0.70 ERA, allowing just two earned runs in 20 innings worth of work, and fanned 19 opponents while issuing just two walks.  She did not surrender any runs in three of her four starts and blanked Washington U., twice.

Light was a dominant offensive presence, registering a .565 hitting mark with a team-high 13 safeties in 23 at-bats.  Light knocked in a team-leading 16 runs and socked four homers and two doubles.  Light blasted a grand slam and totaled five RBIs in the Eagles’ opening UAA Tournament game, 14-2 win over Case, and followed that with a 2-for-3 performance with a pair of homers and four RBIs against the Bears of Wash. U.  She hit safely in all eight contests and chalked up four multi-hit games.

Boni, the Eagles’ catcher, helped the Emory post an 84-5 scoring advantage over the eight games by hitting .563 (9-for-16) while totaling nine RBIs, tying for third high on the club, three doubles and one homer.  One of Boni’s bigger offensive performances came against Rochester (Mar. 11) when she collected three hits in three trips to the plate and drove in four runs.  She would put up two-RBI performances later during the tourney in games Brandeis (Mar. 12 & Mar. 14).

Bailey, a starter in all eight games at second base, hit .450 (9-for-20) with nine runs scored and nine RBIs.  She came through with four multi-hit outings and drove in three of her runs against Rochester (Mar. 14) on the final day of action.  She also knocked home a pair of runs against Wash U. (Mar. 10) and Case Western (Mar. 12).

Brottman picked up three wins in the circle and was unscored upon in 12 innings of action, fanning 11 opponents.  She hurled a complete-game whitewash of Rochester (Mar. 14), striking out five in five frames.