Emily Sunshine

Past Entries

Entry 1

Entry 2

February 21, 2005

On January 24th, the 2005 Emory University softball season finally kicked off!

Despite the "frigid" temperature of 50 degrees, we all braved the cold by practicing outdoors. With many of us having experienced high school seasons in truly frigid temperatures of 30 degrees, being able to be outside practicing on the field in the middle of January is pretty awesome!

The first three weeks our season, otherwise known as pre-season, was full of intense practices. Most of us found out, via the extreme soreness of our body--mainly our legs--that there is such a thing as being in softball shape!

Oh how we love doing those intervals along the warning track and going through the agility stations in the outfield! However, in all seriousness, while working hard in the off-season, we know that it will all pay off down the road when games begin.

After a tough three weeks of practice, we finally reached our first weekend of competition against Georgia Perimeter, a local junior college. We were definitely ready for some competition and the games to begin!

Despite the butterflies in our stomachs--especially from the freshmen I imagine---we came out and played tough. We ended up dropping a close first game, but came back with a vengeance and won game two of the doubleheader.

Another week of practice followed the first weekend of competition. Despite the rain putting a damper on a few of our outdoor practices, we still found gym space to practice indoors.

By Thursday, we were all anticipating the arrival of our parents and families who made the journey to campus for our weekend home opener! After our two wins on Friday, which included a pretty impressive come-from-behind victory, we had our first Division III games of the season against Piedmont College on Saturday.

Most of the parents participated in the first tailgate party of the season in the Peavine parking garage, while Mr. Sunshine (otherwise known as Papa Sunsh) and Mr. Morse prepared for their big radio broadcast debut. Saying that they were just a little excited for their radio debut is a bit of an understatement.

After taking both games against Piedmont, the first which was won in the bottom of the eighth inning on a base-hit by Leaves, a very successful weekend of competition was complete... but not before a valiant team effort of tarping the field. Girls, we have some work to do to improve our tarping skills! (Godby, this means you...just kidding!).

Emily Sunshine is a junior from Evanston, Ill. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.