The No. 1-ranked Emory softball team suffered its first defeat of the 2011 season on Thursday afternoon, dropping the opening of a doubleheader to No. 8  DePauw University, before battling the Tigers to a 9-9 standoff in 10 innings in a game that was called due to darkness.  Emory stands 26-1-1 following today's outcomes while DePauw posts a 10-2-1 won-lost slate.

Emory held a 6-5 lead heading into the top of the seventh in the opening affair but saw DePauw score two runs in the frame to escape with the win.  Coming through with RBIs for the Tigers in the deciding inning were Jamie Story and Lucy Cohen.   The Eagles faced a 3-0 deficit coming into their half of the second but pushed home a pair of runs in the second and three in the third to take a 5-3 edge after three frames.  A two-out double by Jen Haag followed by a run-producing single by Lauren Gorodetsky accounted for the first two Emory scores while back-to-back doubles by Megan Light and Jessica Thomas, followed by a RBI single by Jessica Boni, were key blows in the third inning.  After DePauw knotted the game with a two-spot in the top of the fifth, the Eagles took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the inning when a single by pinch hitter Sophia Tarte scored Ally Kersthold.  Junior pitcher Bridget Holloway suffered the setback in relief of starter Lena Brottman, tossing 5 1/3 innings and allowing four runs.   The Tigers finished with 15 hits to Emory's nine safeties, just the second time this season an opponent had more hits in a game.

In the nightcap, Brittany Boeshore, Light and Boni all had three hits apiece to lead a 17-hit attack.  Light drove in three runs as did Thomas.  The Eagles held a 3-2 advantage after three innings before DePauw scored twice in the fourth to assume a 4-3 lead.  Emory countered with a pair of runs in its half of the fifth when a two-bagger by Thomas scored Boeshore and a double by Tarte drove in Thomas.   A three-run homer by the Tigers' Jen Kosinki highlighted a four-run sixth for the visitors, but Emory continued the back-and-forth nature of the game when it crossed the plate three times in the bottom of the inning.  Light and Thomas were key contributors in that uprising with the former singling in a run and the latter knocking in a pair with a double.  Neither team could score in the seventh, eighth or ninth innings, setting the stage for the tie-breaker situation.  After DePauw took a one-lead in the top of the 10^th, the Eagles tied the game in dramatic fashion when a two-out, two-strike by Boni pushed Dana Goodenough across the plate.  Following the Eagles' bat that inning, the umpires and coaches of the opposing teams met briefly before the game was called. 

Emory returns to action on Saturday (Mar. 26) when it hosts Berry College in a doubleheader starting at noon.