WHO: Softball vs Maryland Eastern Shore
WHERE: George Mason Softball Complex, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 3, UMES 1
KEY PLAYERS: Gabriella Lopez – complete game, 5 clean innings; Casey Price – 3-3, 2 runs; Julia Czarnecki – 1-2, 1 run; Liz Seymour – 2 RBI
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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4th
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5th
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6th
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7th
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R
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E
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UMES (7-19, 2-5 MEAC)
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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1
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1
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2
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2
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George Mason (15-13, 2-3 A-10)
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1
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0
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2
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0
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0
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0
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X
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3
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6
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1
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WHO: Softball vs Maryland Eastern Shore
WHERE: George Mason Softball Complex, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: UMES 3, Mason 2
KEY PLAYERS: Jess Middleton – 2-3, 2 RBI, 1 home run; Julia Czarnecki – 1-2, 1 run
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1st
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4th
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5th
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6th
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7th
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R
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E
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UMES (8-19, 2-5 MEAC)
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0
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3
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0
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0
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0
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0
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0
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3
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3
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0
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George Mason (15-14, 2-3 A-10)
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0
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0
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0
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0
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1
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1
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0
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2
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5
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5
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Fairfax, Va. – In a somewhat similar manner, George Mason University's softball team and Maryland Eastern Shore used quick starts and avoided late comebacks to split Wednesday's doubleheader at the George Mason Softball Complex.
Senior outfielder Casey Price got Mason on the board early in the first game, following on a single with a stolen base and then capitalizing on sophomore shortstop Liz Seymour's sacrifice fly to cross home plate in the bottom of the first inning, 1-0.
Price and two other upperclassmen – junior second baseman McKenzie Jones and senior outfielder Julia Czarnecki – combined in the bottom of the third to help the Patriots jump to a 3-0 lead. Consecutive singles by the three of them was followed by an error on UMES's third baseman to send Czarnecki home and then Price scored again, on another sacrifice fly by Seymour.
Jones quickly switched into defensive mode and made a phenomenal diving catch to line out the Hawks' lead-off hitter Vanessa Gomez, continuing freshman pitcher Gabriella Lopez's impressive start to the game, retiring the first 10 batters she faced. Allison Anderson recorded the Hawks' first hit immediately after, but Lopez did well to strand her on base before adding two more clean innings in the top of the fifth and sixth innings. Anderson recorded her second hit in the top of the seventh and capitalized on Mason's only error of the game to open the scoring for the Hawks, but all thoughts of comeback were quickly tamed when Lopez retired Tesharra Hill with a fly-out to end the game.
Senior pitcher Sarah Kleinfelter picked up where Lopez left off and started the second game with a three-up-three-down first inning, but a single and two Mason errors allowed UMES to load the bases in the second inning. Seymour and senior Breanna Boyd found freshman catcher Hayley Hinton at home on separate occasions to prevent two UMES runs, but two additional errors led to three unearned Hawk runs. Pitcher Adrienne Guerra then followed up with a clean inning in the bottom of the second to retain her team's lead, 3-0.
UMES then threatened to increase the lead in the fourth inning, getting two runners in scoring position, but Kleinfelter dealt with the Hawks' lead-off batter Gomez to prevent such scenario.
After substitute freshman pitcher Marina Vitalich struck out two consecutive batters to close out her first inning at the mound, Mason needed some inspiration from the bat and found it through redshirt freshman second baseman Jess Middleton, who homered to left field for a solo home run, her first of the season.
Vitalich threw a quick clean inning in the top of the sixth to get the Patriots back to bat with some momentum and the hitters quickly showed their gratitude – Middleton singled to center field to pick up her second RBI of the evening and allow Czarnecki to come home for her second run of the day, 3-2.
UMES had two runners stranded on base and could not add to their lead in the top of the seventh inning, but Guerra finished the job off for the Hawks with a clean inning to improve her record to 6-11.
STAT BREAKDOWN
-Despite the setback in the second game of the doubleheader, Mason outhit the Hawks in both contests for a .239 (11-46) batting average on the day. The Hawks combined for only five hits and .094, three of which coming for their win in the second game.
-Despite committing one error fewer than UMES in the first game, Mason committed five additional ones early in the second game while the Hawks were flawless defensively, thus leaving the Patriots with the lion's share of errors in the doubleheader, 6-2.
-Lopez stranded seven UMES runners on base in her third win of the season, while in the following game the two teams had three runners left on base apiece.
NEXT ON THE DIAMOND
Mason will return to Atlantic 10 Conference play over the weekend, again at the George Mason Softball Complex, when it welcomes a strong Dayton team for a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday.
