DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – George Mason University's young softball team accomplished what a much more experienced group could not do a year ago and won a game in Tuesday's doubleheader at Bethune-Cookman, 3-1.

Mason (3-13) dropped the first game by the same margin – 4-2 – but managed to recover in the little time between the games and used RBIs from redshirt sophomore third baseman Jess Middleton, freshman center fielder Mary-Elizabeth Luttrell, and sophomore catcher Hayley Hinton to earn its first road victory and consequently hand Bethune-Cookman (7-19) its first home loss of the season. The Wildcats came into the doubleheader with a 4-0 record at Sunnyland Park.

"It started with outstanding pitching by two of our freshmen that allowed us to hold down their offense," Mason head coach Joe Verbanic said afterwards. "Then we were able to take advantage of eight walks and execute to produce enough runs."

Freshman starter Madison Larsen (1-4) picked up her first intercollegiate win and her classmate Bekah Ansbro recorded her first save in the circle for Mason. The two faced nine more batters than the Wildcats' pitching trio and picked up three and two strikeouts, respectively.

The Patriots took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when a single by Middleton and a sacrifice fly-out by Luttrell scored freshman catcher Sydnee Wells and sophomore first baseman Samantha Zaccari, respectively. Middleton's hit, which was first for Mason in the contest, welcomed B-CU pitcher Bailey Conner to the game after Mariah Estrada (3-4) had started the game.

Mason threatened to extend the lead early in the fifth by loading the bases with no outs. Even though Middleton was thrown out at home plate, Hinton hit a sacrifice fly-out as well shortly afterwards to allow freshman right fielder Jess Curbeira to cross home plate for 3-0. B-CU provided immediate response with a lead-off home run by Ryan Jackson, which put the home team on the board. The Wildcats had at least one hit in each of the last three innings of the game, but Mason's defense held on and kept the home team at bay.

The doubleheader as a whole started well for Mason with Wells leading the Patriots off with a single up the middle in game one before sophomore pitcher Marina Vitalich (2-5) threw a three-up-three-down inning. The script was on course to repeat itself in the second inning with senior right fielder Kat Marsh hitting a double for Mason and the first two Wildcats at bat flying out. Kaitlin Alamprese, however, got B-CU going with a single to second base and crossed home plate two batters later to put the Wildcats in the lead, 1-0.

B-CU scored in the following two innings as well – including a lead-off home run by Alamprese in the fourth – to grab a 4-0 advantage. Nevertheless, Mason did not go down with a fight – Curbeira hit the Patriots' first home run of the season with two outs in the sixth inning to cut the cushion in half and force a pitching substitution by B-CU. Base runs from the next three batters loaded the bases for Mason, but Sabrina Anguiano justified the vote of confidence in her by striking out freshman pinch hitter Erika Elias to finally end the inning.

A double by Wells gave the seventh inning a promising start, but that was the closest Mason came to further threatening B-CU's lead in the first game.

NEXT ON THE DIAMOND

With Tuesday's win already making Mason's second trip to Florida more successful than the first, Mason will attempt to continue the momentum on Wednesday with a doubleheader against a strong and well-gelled Stetson (19-6) team which has, however, lost two in a row. First pitch of the opening game is at 4 p.m.