March 14, 2010

Mason-Mount St. Mary's Box Score
Mason-Cornell Box Score

The George Mason softball team split its two games on the final day of the rain-shortened Cherry Blossom Classic, topping Mount St. Mary's, 9-8, in a game continued from Friday while falling 4-3 to Cornell earlier Sunday afternoon.

In their first game of the day, Mason grabbed the early lead when sophomore Rachael Davies singled to right field, scoring classmate Alyssa See in the bottom of the first inning. Cornell answered two innings later, posting three runs in the frame. Devon March hit an RBI single to left and would come around to score on an error by the Patriots. Elise Menaker finished the scoring when she crossed the plate from third on a wild pitch.

Junior Kara Weiner provided the response one inning later, blasting a two-run home run over the left field wall to tie the game. The score stayed there until the top of the sixth, as a walk issued by pitcher Miranda Cranford loaded the bases, and an errant throw by the Patriots catcher Weiner went into the outfield and allowed Marissa Amiraian to score from third base.

Freshman Nicole Corcoran came on in relief and retired all four batters she faced in order, but the Patriots' offense could not respond as Elizabeth Dalrymple set down the final six Mason batters in order to earn the victory.

Davies led the Mason offense with two of the Patriots' four hits, while Amiraian's 2-for-3 game paced the Big Red, along with Dalrymple's complete game, 13-strikeout performance.

Mason would take the field for the final time on Sunday evening, resuming its game with the Mountaineers which was suspended due to rain on Friday in the top of the fifth inning. Mason, the designated visiting team, opened up the early lead Friday thanks to an RBI single by Becky Anderson in the first and a two-run home run to left-center field by Weiner in the second.

The Mount scored an unearned run in the bottom half of the second, but the Patriots responded with four in the third. Cutting the gap to 7-2, Mount St. Mary's scored in the third on an RBI double by Amanda Buckel. The teams swapped runs in the fourth inning, as Davies homered to lead off the inning while a Liz Christiansen RBI double made it 8-3.

There were two brief rain delays totaling 33 minutes prior to the fifth inning when sophomore Caitlin Stauffer and freshman Megan Blank led off with bunt singles. The game went into a rain delay which lasted 1:26 before the suspension. Nearly 49 hours later the game resumed, and Davies added another RBI on a single up the middle in the top of the fifth.

The Mount cut the deficit to 9-4 in the sixth inning on Nicole Reeder's base hit which scored Lisa Curreri. One inning later, an RBI fielder's choice by Courtney Zingle added another Mount run, and Curreri's three-run home run which narrowly cleared the wall and the outstretched glove of Stauffer made it a 9-8 game. Anderson, who came into pitch Sunday in relief and picked up a three-inning save, recovered with a swinging strikeout by Chloe Mizianty which ended the game.

Davies finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, while Curreri's 3-for-4, three-RBI day led the Mount. Cranford pitched the first four innings Friday and earned the victory, while Amanda Sadowl took the loss after allowing the first seven runs on x hits in 2.2 innings of work.

The Patriots will be back in action next weekend, hosting Morgan State for a four-game set Friday through Sunday.