FAIRFAX, Va. – In an evenly matched game played in the on-and-off rain on Tuesday, visiting NC State made the decisive plays in handing the George Mason softball team a 4-0 loss.

Wolfpack freshman Haylee Kobziak (1-3 hitting, 2 RBI) broke the deadlock with a two-run home run in the fourth inning. In the following inning, her more experienced teammate Macauley Prickett (2-3, 1 RBI) led NC State off with a hit deep to left field and demonstrated phenomenal speed to cover all four bases for an in-the-park home run.

GAME NOTES

-Prickett was one of four players with multiple hits in the game. Junior catcher Brooke Sullivan (2-3) was the only Patriot among them. The other ones were NC State's best hitters Jade Caraway (2-3) and Tyler Ross (2-3), who lived up to their reputations.

-Mason batted .222 (6-27) as a team in comparison to NC State's .276. The Wolfpack finished the contest with two at-bats and two hits more than the Patriots.

-The Patriots committed two more errors than their opponents, 3-1. NC State capitalized on one of those to score its final run of the game in the fifth inning.

-The circled was packed with youth. Freshman Peyton Silverman (3-8) pitched a complete game for the visitors, striking out five batters in the win. Sophomore Marina Vitalich (1-4) started the game for Mason and pitched the first five innings before freshman Bekah Ansbro finished it off. In two innings, Ansbro gave up only one hit and walked one of the seven batters she faced.

-Regardless of the result, Tuesday's game marked one of the Patriots' most consistent offensive performances of the season, in which they had a hit in six of the seven innings and a base run in all seven innings. Meanwhile, NC State was held to two three-up-three-down innings, once by each of the Patriots' pitchers.

-Mason led the Wolfpack 2-1 in hits and had one more runner left on base, 2-1, before Kobziak's big play tipped the scales in favor of NC State.

-As a result of Tuesday's contest, NC State now has 10 home runs in 2017 while Mason is still looking for its first one.

NEXT ON THE DIAMOND

The Patriots will host a tournament for the second weekend in a row as Akron and Cornell come to town for the Cherry Blossom Classic, which will include round-robin play on Saturday and Sunday.