FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason University's softball team gave it all it had but could not discontinue Army's six-game win streak and dropped Friday's Patriot Classic opener against the Black Knights 6-5 after extra innings.

GAME NOTES

-Going into the bottom of the sixth inning 4-0 down, Mason scored four unanswered run to take the game into an eighth inning, in which the Patriots scored one more run. That means that Mason has scored all of its seven runs over the course of the last two games in the sixth inning or later.
-Mason and Army batted .343 and .351, respectively, to demonstrate the contested nature of the game. Five Patriots batted .500 better and three of them had one of Mason's four RBI – redshirt sophomore infielder Jess Middleton (3-4), senior outfielder Katherine Marsh (2-4), and sophomore utility Victoria Webster (1-2). Sophomore first baseman Samantha Zaccari (2-4) and freshman utility Mary-Elizabeth Luttrell (2-4) also started the weekend well at bat.
-Four Black Knights batted team-high .500 on Friday. One of them was Maddie Kim (2-4), who was vital for Army's success by batting two of the Black Knights' runs in while also crossing home plate twice herself.
-Pitcher Renee Poirier (4-1) contributed both on the defensive and offensive ends for her fourth win of the season. She batted 2-4 in the tops of the innings with two RBI and a run. Poirier threw a complete game for Army and struck out four batters while giving up four earned runs.
-Mason's sophomore starter Marina Vitalich threw eight strikeouts and gave up as many earned runs as her counterpart before being replaced by freshman Bekah Ansbro (0-2) at the end of regulation.
-Poirier withstood the pressure of loaded bases twice and kept the bases clean once for a total of 12 stranded Patriot runners. Army had seven runners left on base, all of them stranded by Vitalich.

HOW IT HAPPENED

-Mason started the game better and picked up two hits in the opening inning that allowed the Patriots to load the bases. Nevertheless, it was Army who opened the scoring with Kim's one-run home run in the top of the second inning. After a slow inning by Mason, Army came out swinging in the top of the third and doubled the lead. Emily Ballesteros (2-4) and Amelia Trotter (1-4) hit consecutive singles for the Black Knights with two outs, the latter of which scored Ashley Yoo (2-4) for 2-0.

-In the sixth inning Army resorted to a pinch hitter and two pinch runners who helped the Black Knights to four hits and two runs that extended the visitots' lead to 4-0. Mason committed both of its two errors in the game in the same inning.

-Army's big sixth inning only hinted for the drama that played out in the bottom of the same inning. Starting with a walk by Middleton, six consecutive Patriots reached base to start the inning for Mason. Those included singles by Zaccari, Webster and Marsh and an error by Yoo that resulted in three runs for the Patriots, 4-3.

-The shock in Army's camp allowed Vitalich to record an important three-up-three-down inning that got Mason back at bat with the chance to continue the momentum in the seventh inning. That is precisely what happened as singles from Middleton and Zaccari and a sacrifice bunt from Webster quickly put two Patriots in scoring position. Experience came to play a role late on as veteran Marsh singles with two outs to score Middleton and to send the game into extra innings.

-Poirier won her first duel against Ansbro in the top of the eighth and homered for an RBI double to put Army up 6-4 with one out. Even though Mason's leadoff hitter Luttrell's double to right field and Middleton's RBI single to score Luttrell shortly after kept the Patriots' hopes alive, Poirier and the rest of Army's defense stood tall and closed out the game for a 6-5 win.

POST-GAME QUOTES

"Today was another step forward for us in the process of becoming a good team." – Mason head coach Joe Verbanic

"We improved in some areas but still need to play more cleanly in order to beat good teams. I loved our fight and the bats came alive a little bit today."

NEXT ON THE DIAMOND

The Patriot Classic continues all day Saturday. The Patriots will face the Black Knights again at 12:30 p.m. and will later host Fairfield at 5:15 p.m. in the day finale.