WHO: Softball vs Saint Louis (Game 1)
WHERE: George Mason Softball Complex, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Saint Louis 1, Mason 0
KEY PLAYERS: Julia Czarnecki – 2-3; Marina Vitalich – 8 IP, 11 strikeouts, 0 earned runs allowed

WHO: Softball vs Saint Louis (Game 2)
WHERE: George Mason Softball Complex, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Saint Louis 9, Mason 1
KEY PLAYERS: Julia Czarnecki – 2-3, 1 run; Marina Vitalich – 1-1, 1 RBI

Fairfax, Va. – George Mason University's softball team showed contrasting performances in the doubleheader against Saint Louis on Saturday, but neither was enough to take a game from the strong Billiken team on Senior Day.

The first game could be best described as a pitcher's duel between Mason's freshman Marina Vitalich and her counterpart in the circle, Brianna Lore. Lore was piling up clean innings one after another while Vitalich would give up a hit once in a while but strikeouts at the right time tamed all of the Billikens' scoring opportunities.

 Shortly before Mason's pitcher picked up her first three-up-three-down inning in the top of the sixth, senior left fielder Julia Czarnecki canceled Lore's potential no-hitter with a single to left field. Sophomore shortstop Liz Seymour placed a hit in the same spot to get Czarnecki in scoring position, but Saint Louis' senior in the circle prevented the Patriots from shifting the momentum with a run. Neither team could advance a runner in the seventh inning, thus sending the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, singles by Emma Buckles and Alex Nickel sent the former to third base. The shortstop did not run as the next batter, Lore, fouled out to third base, but made the most of the time she had after Elizabeth Everingham grounded out to second base and finally broke the deadlock, 1-0 Saint Louis. Czarnecki led off the Patriots in the bottom of the inning with a single and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by classmate center fielder Casey Price, but that is as close as the Patriots came to a comeback in the first game.

Mason did not have to wait that long for its first hit in the second game, which came in the first inning off a left-side single by Czarnecki, one of the seven seniors recognized for their contribution to the program before the start of the contest. Shortly after, Vitalich, who was replaced in the circle by senior Sarah Kleinfelter, singled through the left side for her third career RBI as the speedy Czarnecki crossed home plate for the Patriots' first run of the day, 1-0.

The top of the second inning started well for Mason as well, with the Billikens picking up two quick outs, but that was the calm before the storm. Each of the next six batters advanced on four hits and two walks, which later resulted in as many runs by the Billikens, a run culminated with a grand slam home run by Nickel that also scored Buckles, Mackenzie Peter and Madeline Brungardt.

Partly due to the shock but mostly due to good play from Saint Louis' pitcher Laney Kneib, Mason could not register another hit until the bottom of the fifth inning; meanwhile, the Billikens' lead had grown to 8-1 with a run Nickel on a Buckles walk  and a run by Alyssa Tarquinio with bases loaded. After Kneib stranded Czarnecki and senior second baseman McKenzie Jones in the fifth, Tarquinio doubled for a RBI single in the top of the sixth inning to score Allie Macfarlane for the final run of the game, 9-1.

STAT BREAKDOWN

-Saint Louis hit .350 (21-60) over the course of the doubleheader thanks to a 15-31 combined batting in the second game. Mason managed only a .163 team batting average with only 8 hits on the day, half of which came from Czarnecki.

-After committing an error each in the first game, the two teams cleaned up their defensive play in the second contest, but Saint Louis relied heavily on its attacking performance to complete the day's sweep.

-Vitalich had 11 of the 12 strikeouts thrown by Mason over the course of the day, while Lore and Kneib combined for only 5. Saint Louis had 8 runners left on base in each game, while Mason had 6 in each of the contests.  

NEXT ON THE DIAMOND

Due to the threat of inclement weather, which already canceled two Mason contests this week, Sunday's series finale will begin at 11 a.m. rather than the initial noon start time.