MASON (4-18, 0-0 A-10) vs La Salle (9-9, 0-0 A-10)
WHEN:  Saturday: 12 p.m. AND 2:30 p.m.; Sunday: 12 p.m. 
WHERE: George Mason Softball Complex, Fairfax, Va.
LIVE STATS: SideArmStats.com FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason University's softball team will welcome La Salle this weekend for both teams' Atlantic 10 Conference-opening three-game series.
Mason returns home after a mixed final weekend of tournament play. The Patriots registered a whopping 10-0 win over Columbia in their JU Invitational opener last Friday, but later fell to Columbia in two painfully close games before suffering a heavy loss to host Jacksonville University in the weekend finale. Nevertheless, Mason will enter the weekend series having won consecutive games against the Explorers – 6-4 and 9-6, respectively – which won head coach Joe Verbanic's team last season's series in Philadelphia.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

Unlike Mason, La Salle had a midweek game, in which it fell 2-1 to Penn late Thursday night. The contest against the Quakers was originally scheduled as a Wednesday doubleheader, but inclement weather pushed it back a day and gave only one full day of rest ahead of their first A-10 series. Thursday night's game was La Salle's first game in Philadelphia this season, but took place at Penn and the Explorers have not yet played in front of home crowd in 2017. Of their 18 games, they have played 16 on neutral grounds (8-8) and have split their two contests on the road. The defeat to the Quakers gave La Salle its own three-game losing streak to enter the weekend with. The previous losses came two weekends ago in the hands of Central Connecticut State and Canisius at the USF Invitational.