WHO: Softball vs Siena @ Madeira Beach Spring Invitational
WHERE: Madeira Beach, Fla.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 13, Siena 2
KEY PLAYERS: Brooke Sullivan – 4 runs, .500 hitting; Casey Price – 2 runs, 1.000 hitting; Sarah Solano – 2 runs, .500 hitting

WHO: Softball vs Villanova @ Madeira Beach Spring Invitational
WHERE: Madeira Beach, Fla.
FINAL SCORE:  Mason 3, Villanova 1
KEY PLAYERS: Marina Vitalich – 7 innings pitched, 1 error, 1 allowed run

Madeira Beach, Fla. – George Mason University's softball team enjoyed a brilliant opening day of the 2016 season, in which the Patriots showed great balance between offense and defense to earn wins against Siena and Villanova at the Madeira Beach Spring Invitational on Friday.

Senior Casey Price was Mason's first player to cross home plate for the 2016 season and gave Mason the lead in the first inning. Sophomore catcher Brooke Sullivan increased Mason's lead in the following inning when she scored on a bases loaded walk. Siena answered with two runs of their own to tie the score at 2 apiece. Those would be the only runs the Saints would score in the contest.

After drawing a walk, freshman Samantha Zaccari got the Patriots going again in the third inning with her first intercollegiate run as a result of senior outfielder Sarah Solano's bases loaded RBI groundout. Junior McKenzie Jones then followed Solano up with a double down the left field line scoring Sullivan and moving junior outfielder Katherine Marsh to third. Marsh would later score on a Czarnecki RBI single and the Mason would add two additional runs in the inning to create a 7-2 lead.

Sullivan scored on Mason's only hit in the fourth inning and added another run in the fifth inning, in which Mason outscored the Saints 5-0 with additional runs from Czarnecki, Price, sophomore second baseman Liz Seymour and Zaccari to end the contest prematurely, 13-2. Senior pitcher Sarah Kleinfelter did a great job from the mound and held Siena scoreless in four of the five innings.

Mason carried the high-scoring momentum into the afternoon game against Villanova and scored two runs in the opening inning. First, junior catcher Heather Ferguson's bases loaded RBI single scored Czarnecki and then Price scored her third run of the day on a passed ball.

Freshman pitcher Marina Vitalich held Villanova scoreless in the first two innings, but the Wildcats got on the board when Shea Palmer scored on Chase Snell's RBI single.

Neither team could break through in the following three innings but in the seventh inning, senior second baseman Breanna Boyd ran home on Jones' RBI single to increase Mason's lead to 3-1. Vitalich embraced the pressure and finished strong to mark the program's first 2-0 start since the 2003 season.  

STAT BREAKDOWN

-The Patriots cleaned up the defensive play over the course of the day and after registering two errors against Siena, did not commit a single one against Villanova.

-Mason scored registered 13 RBI over the course of the two contests, of which Solano had four; the Patriots' opponents, on the other hand, combined three RBI.

-Price hit 1.000 against the Saints, while three Patriots hit .500 – Solano, Sullivan and Czarnecki. The four combined for eight of Mason's runs in the contest.  

-Vitalich pitched only one error and allowed only one run in her first intercollegiate win against Villanova, while Kleinfelter allowed only two hits against Siena.

POST-GAME QUOTES

“Awesome opening day! Our pitching set the tone. Offensively we had quality at bats all day to put pressure on the opponents and, on the other hand, played solid defense to support our pitching and protect our leads.” – Mason's head coach Joe Verbanic

NEXT ON THE FIELD

The Patriots will play two additional games tomorrow, facing Manhattan at 11 a.m. and Providence at 4 p.m.