Patriot Points

• George Mason begins a nine-game home stand at George Mason Softball Complex, beginning with this weekend's Patriot Classic.
• Reigning A-10 Player of the Week Jess Curbeira enters play hitting .538 with a 1.560 OPS. She's one of four Patriots to start in all nine games this season.
• Mason enters play with a conference leading 2.82 team ERA. Freshman Haellie Gordon leads the squad with her 1.26 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 16.2 innings pitched.

 THIS WEEK OF ACTION
 
Friday, Mar. 2 – vs. Syracuse (Mason Softball Complex), 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 3 – vs. Army (Mason Softball Complex), 12:15 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 3 – vs. Monmouth (Mason Softball Complex), 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 4 – vs. Syracuse (George Mason Softball Complex), 11:15 a.m.
Sunday, Mar. 4 – vs. Monmouth (George Mason Softball Complex), 3:30 p.m.
 
The George Mason Softball team (4-5) host its home opener this weekend in the Patriot Classic. The weekend showcase will kick-start a nine-game home stand that will last until Mar. 11. The Patriots' home opening weekend features a five-game slate of matchups with Syracuse (Friday, 11:00 a.m.), Army (Saturday, 12:15 p.m.), Monmouth (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.), Syracuse again (Sunday, 11:15 a.m.) and Monmouth once more to conclude the showcase (Sunday, 3:30 p.m.). All games will take place at the George Mason Softball Complex located on the corner of Campus Drive and Rapidan River Road, just off Braddock Road.
 
2018 marks the 18th consecutive season Mason will participate in the Patriot Classic, dating back to 2001. The 2015 team was scheduled to take part in the showcase, but each game was canceled due to weather.

Mason has a chance to flip the all-time series against Syracuse and Monmouth to .500 or above, checking in 0-2 against the Orange and 5-6 against the Hawks. The Patriots are 1-5 against Army but saw Jess Middleton go 3-for-4 with an RBI in one of last year's matchups.
 
The Patriots' offense was led by junior Jess Curbeira, who compiled a home run and six RBI in four games last weekend. The performance earned her Atlantic 10 Player of the Week and boosted her slash line to .538/.552/1.038 through nine games. Curbeira is tied for 12^th nationally in batting average, tied for fourth in doubles (7) and 10^th in slugging percentage.
 
Curbeira is one of two players in the A-10 with a slugging percentage of at least 1.000, and one of 16 players nationally to claim that same achievement. Her home run against Charleston Southern (Feb. 24) paired her with Sydnee Wells as the two Patriots to go deep this season within the first nine games.
 
Senior Brooke Sullivan enters the weekend hitting .409 with an OPS of 1.052. She's one of five players in the Atlantic 10 to have a batting average of .400 or higher, and one of three players to have an on-base percentage of .500 or higher. In her eight at-bats with two outs, Sullivan has collected four hits and registered four RBI. The Newville, Pa. native is tied with Curbeira for the team lead in RBI with seven and has started all nine games in right field for Verbanic this season.
 
RS-junior Liz Seymour has hit safely in her last seven games and 15 of her last 17 games dating back to the 2016 season (she missed all of 2017 due to injury). Seymour is second on the team in doubles and tied for second in total bases, as well as ranking third on the team in hits, runs scored and average.
 
Freshman Haellie Gordon has statistically been the Patriots best pitcher so far, posting a 1.26 ERA, 1.02 WHIP to lead the team, and has only walked one batter in 16.2 innings pitched to lead the conference in walks per seven (0.42). The Salem, Va. native has made two starts this season, including most recently a complete game effort in a win over St. Bonaventure (Feb. 24).
 
As a team the Patriots rank first in the A-10 in team ERA (2.82) and doubles per game (1.89). Mason has hit at least one double in every game this season with the opener against Eastern Michigan being the exception – totaling 17. They also rank third in the A-10 in batting average (.277) and have three players hitting over .300 (Min. 2 Plate appearances per game).