Photo courtesy of Thom Kendall/Atlantic 10
AMHERST, Mass. – The George Mason softball team fell to Fordham and Dayton today in the A-10 Championship after making the final four. The Patriots fought hard, but were defeated in two very close games – 4-2 and 5-4, respectively.
Game One
It was a pitching duel for the first three innings as Casey Herring and Rachel Gillen kept each team scoreless.
However, in the fourth inning, the Rams were able to score three runs to open up the scoring in the game. Then, in the next inning, Fordham added one run to jump out to a 4-0 lead after five innings.
In the top of the sixth inning, Brooke Blankenship blasted a two-run homerun to left center to put the Patriots on the board. Down two in the top of the seventh, the Patriots came close to tying the game with runners on the corners, but Fordham was able to get out of the jam to win the game and advance to the final with a 4-2 win.
Game Two
The Patriots started the game off on fire in the rematch against the top seed Dayton. After freshman Liz Seymour tripled to left center, Casey Price smacked a single into left field to score the first run of the game.
In the very next inning, Mary O'Connor hit a bases-loaded single down the left field line to score another run for the Patriots. Seymour came to the plate next and hit a two-RBI single to left field to make it 4-0.
Dayton started its comeback bid in the fourth inning with two runs to bring the Patriots lead down to two. Later in the bottom of the sixth inning, Jordan Jennings hit a three-run homerun to give the Flyers a 5-4 lead.
The Patriots had a couple of runners on base in the top of the seventh, including a play at home that resulted in an out, but couldn't complete the comeback. Dayton will take on Fordham tomorrow in the A-10 Championship final at 1 p.m.
Despite the loss, Sarah Kleinfelter pitched a great game and gave up just two earned runs in six innings of work. Seymour led the offense with three hits and two RBI in the game. O'Connor, Angela Maioran, and Sarah Solano each had multi-hit games as wel. Manda Cash picked up the win for Dayton after pitching six scoreless innings.