- Mason completed two thrilling walk-off victories over Butler and Murray State on Saturday.
- The Patriots defeated Butler 2-1 after an RBI single by Liz Seymour.
- Freshman EJ Bankson hit a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh to give Mason the 6-3 win over Murray State.
FINAL: Mason 2, Butler 1 (PDF Box Score)
FINAL: Mason 6, Murray State 3 (PDF Box Score)
MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – The George Mason softball team impressed in the second day of the Madeira Beach Invitational with two thrilling walk-off victories. The Patriots are now on a three-game winning streak to sit at 3-4 overall.
In its opening game on Saturday, Mason held a 1-0 lead heading into the final inning. After Butler evened the score in the top of the seventh, senior
Liz Seymour stepped up for the Patriots with an RBI single to end the game.
Against Murray State, the Patriots led once again heading into the seventh inning, 1-0. Murray State responded with three runs at the top of the inning. However, Mason would go on to collect five hits for four runs to win the game, 6-3. This time freshman
EJ Bankson stepped up for Mason with a three-run walk-off home run – the first of her career.
Pitcher
Bekah Ansbro (1-2) earned the victory in Mason's game against Butler while
Marina Vitalich (2-1) notched the victory against Murray State.
HOW IT HAPPENED – Butler
- Mason picked up where it left off in the first day of the tournament. Redshirt sophomore Adriana Erickson opened the game with a double to left field, advancing Jess Cubeira to third. The Patriots would later ground out, leaving two runners on base.
- Sophomore Saige Cisler started the third inning with a single to shortstop, followed by Curbeira's first hit of the game, a single to the middle.
- After freshman Hannah Thomas was hit by pitch, junior Aylssa Lawton checked in to pinch run. Lawton stole second and would later score Mason's first run of the game off a Butler fielding error.
- Vitalich relieved starting pitcher Haellie Gordon and collected a huge strikeout to end the fifth inning with the bases loaded.
- In the top of the seventh, Butler looked to push the game to extra innings after scoring a game-tying run off a walk with the bases loaded.
- Back to back singles by Cisler and Curbeira helped Mason load the bases in the bottom of the seventh. Senior Seymour stepped up to the plate with composure and experience and with a single, drove in the winning run for the Patriots.
HOW IT HAPPENED – Murray State
- In the second inning, Lawton reached base on an error. Meghan Graham stepped up to the plate and blasted a double down the left field line to score Lawton.
- Ansbro pitched five scoreless innings to start the game, allowing Mason to hold onto its 1-0 lead up until the seventh inning. Ansbro finished with four strikeouts in the game.
- In the top of the seventh, Murray State responded with three runs off of three hits and two errors.
- For the second straight game, Mason dug deep in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game. Madison Aker and Lawton kicked off the inning with back to back singles. Then Curbeira hit a double to score Aker. Again, Seymour showed composure down the stretch. She batted in Lawton off a sacrifice fly, tying the game 3-3.
- With the game tied, Bankson blasted a three-run walk-off home run to give Mason the 6-3 win – the first home run of her career.
UP NEXT
Mason wraps up the Madeira Beach Invitational with a game against Akron at 11:30 a.m on Sunday.
