Patriot Points

• George Mason participates in the Charleston Southern Tournament for the first time since 2013, traveling to Charleston, S.C. to face Hartford, St. Bonaventure and two games against Charleston Southern. The Patriots swept the Bonnies last year by a combined score of 19-3 in three games.
• All-time the Patriots are 1-2 against Hartford, 4-9 against Charleston Southern and 4-2 against St. Bonaventure.
• Junior Jess Curbeira and RS-junior Liz Seymour are at the top of the team batting average leaderboard at .333 and .308 respectively through five games. Curbeira leads the team with an .824 OPS.

 THIS WEEK OF ACTION
 
Friday, Feb. 23 – vs. Hartford (Charleston, S.C.), 11:00 a.m.
Friday, Feb. 23 – vs. Charleston Southern (Charleston, S.C.), 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 24 – vs. St. Bonaventure (Charleston, S.C.), 9:00 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 24 – vs. Charleston Southern (Charleston, S.C.), 1:00 p.m.
 
The George Mason Softball team (2-3) will resume play this weekend for its second consecutive road showcase, this time participating in the Charleston Southern Tournament in Charleston, S.C. The lineup of games for the Patriots start with Friday matchups against Hartford (11:00 a.m.) and host-team Charleston Southern (3:00 p.m.) followed by an early look on at A-10 foe St. Bonaventure (9:00 a.m.) the next day and will close things out with another game against Charleston Southern (1:00 p.m.). All games will take place at Buccaneer Field, home of the Charleston Southern softball team.
 
Mason will play in the Charleston Southern Tournament for the first time since 2013. In the opening game of that tournament, Casey Herring threw a no-hitter while collecting ten strikeouts.

2012 is the only year Mason has matched up against Hartford – regular season or postseason. Mason dropped two of three to the Hawks that campaign, but the win came in 9-0 fashion headlined by a Brooke Blankenship homerun.
 
The Patriots' pitching was headlined by junior RHP Marina Vitalich and sophomore RHP Bekah Ansbro in the Madeira Beach Showcase (Feb. 16-18), each gardening two starts and a complete game over the weekend. Vitalich's early averages include a 1.07 WHIP and a 1.62 ERA, while notching five strikeouts in her complete game effort against Monmouth (Feb. 18). Ansbro did a good job limiting the baserunners, holding a 0.83 WHIP through her first two starts.
 
Vitalich continues to chase program milestones after the opening weekend. She is now 17 strikeouts shy of owning the program record for the most in her career - her career K/7 is currently at 7.45. Vitalich also has seven career shutouts and needs three more to move into a tie in fourth place on the program's all-time career list. 
 
The bulk of the Patriots' power has come from junior Jess Curbeira and RS-junior Liz Seymour. Curbeira is leading the team in slugging percentage (.538), doubles (3) and is tied for the team lead in total bases (7). Additionally, Curbeira's slugging percentage is ninth in the A-10. Seymour is leading the team in hits with five and is close behind Curbeira in every major statistical category evaluating power.
 
Seymour ended her 2016 season hitting safely in nine of her last ten games. She has collected at least one hit in four of the first five games this year, extending her stretch to 13 in the last 15 – including a hit in her last four games.
 
Sophomore Sydnee Wells also had an impact weekend at the plate, specifically on Feb. 18 where she blasted a homerun against Monmouth and collected two RBI in the process. Thanks in large part to her Sunday explosion, Wells is third on the team with a .462 slugging percentage and a .748 OPS. Last season she ranked first on the team in homeruns, RBI and runs scored.
 
Five Mason freshmen saw action in the Madeira Beach Showcase en route to making their debuts. RHP Haellie Gordon threw 8.0 total innings and got the start against Lipscomb (Feb. 16). Among position players, Meghan Graham started all five games in left field and had a walk-off single in Mason's opening win vs. Eastern Michigan (Feb. 16). First baseman Adriana Erickson picked up a double, infielder Marissa Butts notched two RBI in the win against ACU (Feb. 18) and catcher Miah Wilson made two starts and picked up three hits in six at-bats. Wilson is joined by Seymour and Curbeira as the Patriots with multi-hit games.