March 20, 2010
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Watch Video from Anderson's Perfect Game
FAIRFAX, Va. - Senior Becky Anderson pitched the fourth perfect game in program history to highlight a doubleheader sweep for the George Mason softball team over Morgan State on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon. Anderson led the Patriots to an 8-0, five-run victory in the second game after Mason topped the Bears, 6-0, in the opener.
The Patriots improved to 5-7 while the Bears fell to 4-8 after day one of the two teams' four-game, two-day weekend series.
Anderson retired all 15 batters she faced in the second game of the day, using just 55 pitches and striking out six Morgan State batters. She is the first Mason player since Dianna Austin in 2002 to complete the perfect game, while Kim Tuffy (1995) and Lisa Davis (2000) are the only two other Mason pitchers to achieve the feat.
In the day's opening game, the Patriots took advantage of the weather with 10 total hits, as they scored in the bottom of the first and never looked back. A Katie Rynex double down the left field line allowed Rachael Davies, who doubled with two outs, to cross the plate.
It would prove to be all of the offense Mason's defense would need, as sophomore Miranda Cranford limited the Bears to just three hits in six innings of work. Amanda Buffington tossed a scoreless seventh to seal the win.
Mason added a pair of runs in the fourth inning as an RBI double by Alyssa See scored Reagan Doiron, who walked to lead off the frame. See would come around to score on Davies' base hit to center field and make the score 3-0. Three more Patriot runs came an inning later, with Emily Lafferty's RBI double to right, along with RBI singles from Doiron and Kate Bustin set the final tally. Davies and Lafferty both finished the game 2-for-3 to pace the Mason offense while three separate Bears garnered a hit.
Following the short intermission, Anderson and the Patriots took the field and quickly jumped on the lead with a three-run first inning. See scored on a throwing error and Kara Weiner dropped a base hit into right field which brought home two more Patriots.
The remainder of the Mason offense came in the third inning, as the Patriots put up a five-spot. Anderson helped out her own cause with a one-out RBI single to right field. Daria Siwczak brought in a run when she was issued a bases-loaded walk, and Doiron and See each picked up an RBI before Megan Blank's RBI single off pitcher Porsche Boddicker's glove brought in the final run of the day.
Anderson promptly induced three groundouts in the top of the fifth inning to secure the run-rule victory for the Patriots.
Mason will square off against the Bears twice tomorrow in a doubleheader set to begin at noon at George Mason Softball Complex.
