March 15, 2006

Box Score

Tampa, Fla.--George Mason University's softball team faced Purdue in Tampa, Fla. at the E.C. Moore Complex in a doubleheader Wednesday afternoon. The Patriots fell by a score of 12-0 in the first game and went on to drop a 10-2 decision in the second contest. With this loss Mason falls to 0-20 on the year, while the Boilermakers improve to 15-14.

Sophomore Amanda Bach (Chesapeake, Va.) was 2-for-2 at the plate for Mason's only hits in the opening game. Freshman Ali Bryan (Midland Park, N.J.) pitched 5.1 innings for the Patriots and gave up 11 earned runs off of 16 hits, while walking two of the 36 batters she faced. Rachel Hastings (Fr.; Westbrorough, Mass.) was on the mound for the final three batters and gave up one hit. Senior Diana LaRiva was Purdue's lone pitcher of the game and she allowed only two hits, while walking five and striking out 11 of the 26 Patriots she faced.

In the second contest, Mason was down 10-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, but both Bryan and freshman Dee Murray (Culpeper, Va.) put the Patriots on the board as each scored a run for Mason. Murray reached on a fielder's choice and scored after Bryan connected on a single to left field. The next batter for the Patriots was Bach and she smacked one to left field for a double to send Bryan home for Mason's second run of the game.

Sophomore Amber Straube (Virginia Beach, Va.) pitched the first 3.1 innings for Mason and gave up three earned runs off of seven hits, while walking one and striking out one of the 22 Boilermakers she faced. Arielle Weinkofsky (So.; Oakhurst, N.J.) relieved Straube and was on the mound for 1.2 innings where two unearned runs were scored off of two hits.

The Patriots will return to action when they begin competition at the Speedline Invitational in Tampa, Fla. On March 17, Mason will first face South Florida (11 a.m.) and then Ohio (1:30 p.m.).