Mason Softball Pairs Up With Rhode Island for A-10 Opener

Softball 3/23/2018 7:00:00 AM

Patriot Points

Mason begins Atlantic 10 play with a three-game series against Rhode Island. In the early portion of the non-conference season, Mason ranks fifth with a 9-13 record and URI ranks 10^th at 4-18.
On the spring break trip to Florida, RS-junior Liz Seymour led the Patriots by going 9-for-21 (.429) with two of the hits going for extra bases. Seymour now posts a slash line of .352/.395/.451.
Sophomore Bekah Ansbro made three starts last week, one of which was a complete game victory over Bethune-Cookman (March 13). Her 2.80 ERA over that stretch led the team (Min. 10 IP).

THIS WEEK OF ACTION

Saturday, March 24 – vs. URI [DH] (George Mason Softball Complex), 12:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 25 – vs. URI (George Mason Softball Complex), 12:00 p.m.

Sunday's game against Rhode Island marks the annual Go Gold for Tara game.

The George Mason Softball team (9-13) opens Atlantic 10 play with a weekend series against the Rhode Island Rams. The conference-opening series will begin with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader (First pitch beginning at 12:00 p.m.) and one game on Sunday afternoon at noon as well. Game two on Saturday will begin approximately 20 minutes after the conclusion of game one.

The Patriots completed a three-game sweep in last year's head-to-head series against the Rams. Jess Curbeira went 6-for-12, including a three-hit game in the team's 6-1 victory in game two on April 15. The Patriots compiled six extra base hits, one of which was a home run by Sydnee Wells.

Sophomore Bekah Ansbro made three starts last week and put together a 2.80 ERA on 20 innings pitched. Her best start came against the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (March 13) when she registered a complete game win while only surrendering one earned run. Junior Marina Vitalich made two appearances in relief and tossed 2.1 scoreless innings. Vitalich lowered her ERA to 2.37, good for seventh in the Atlantic 10.

Entering conference play, Mason has two players in the top-10 in batting average among Atlantic 10 teams. Junior Jess Curbeira ranks sixth at .371 and RS-junior Liz Seymour checks in at ninth at .352. Curbeira also ranks in the top-10 in Atlantic 10 on-base percentage (.444) and slugging percentage (.571).

RS-junior Liz Seymour has started in 21 games this year and has picked up at least one hit in all but three of them. The Saint John, Ind. native tied her career high of four hits in Mason's win at Bethune-Cookman, and recently enjoyed her longest hitting streak of the season at eight games (March 10-17). Seymour is tied for ninth on the program's career doubles ledger with 27, and is in a four-way tie for seventh in program history with 10 career triples.

Fellow freshman Meghan Graham and Hannah Rosenfeld led the Patriots with three RBI over the six-game road trip. Graham posted a two-hit game vs. Manhattan College (March 15) and drew two walks in game one against Jacksonville (March 17). Rosenfeld went deep in the Patriots' win over Bethune-Cookman for her first collegiate home run, while picking up her second multi-RBI game in the process. Rosenfeld has also drawn at least one walk in three straight games.

After going hitless in the first three games last week, senior Brooke Sullivan has since hit in three straight and ranks fourth in the Atlantic 10 in on-base percentage (.487). She's well on her way to a breakout season, already just six runs shy of 50 for her career while sitting 12 RBI shy of the same milestone. The Newville, Pa. native is three RBI shy of tying her single-season career high and one double shy of setting a new career high.

Patriots cracking the top-10 of additional notable individual Atlantic 10 statistical categories include: Brooke Sullivan – T-7^th in doubles (7); Jess Curbeira – 4^th in doubles per game (0.41); Haellie Gordon and Marina Vitalich – 2nd and 3rd in strikeout to walk ratio (4.17, 3.86), Haellie Gordon – 1^st in walks per seven (0.84) and Brooke Sullivan in total walks drawn (0.68).

George Mason has done a good job avoiding strikeouts, tying George Washington for the fewest team strikeouts in the conference. Conversely, the team's 2.85 strikeout to walk ratio ranks first in the conference and 33^rd nationally.

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