The Emory softball team opened its 2009 season with a pair of wins at its weekend Invitational, pounding out a five-inning 15-1 triumph over Maryville College before edging Greensboro College, 1-0, in eight innings. 

Freshman left fielder Jessica Thomas, playing in her first collegiate contest, sparked the win over Maryville, socking two homers and driving in eight RBIs, tying the third-highest game mark in school history.  Her first blast was a three-run shot that highlighted a four-run frame that put the Eagles ahead by a 5-1 margin.  The following inning she drove in five more runs with a grand slam and a walk that forced in a run.  Emory recorded 15 safeties in the game with junior Caitlin Fitzgerald and sophomore Zara Louy each recording three hits while scoring a pair of runs. Junior pitcher Shanon Andersen went the distance in the five-inning affair, allowing four hits and striking out nine.

The second game of the afternoon was an entirely different story as Andersen and Greensboro's Brittany Evans waged a pitching duel.  The Pride stranded a pair of runners in the third inning while the Eagles left a pair in their half of the seventh.  Andersen went six innings and surrendered just four hits while whiffing six.  Freshman Bridget Holloway earned the win in relief, tossing the final two innings.

In the decisive eighth inning, with Louy placed on second base, junior Cassie Walsh bunted for a hit which moved Louy to third.  After Walsh swiped second base, Thomas knocked in the game-winning run with a hard shot through the left side of the infield.