#4 GEORGE MASON (34-21, 16-10 ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE) vs #2 LOYOLA CHICAGO (26-22, 18-6 ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE)
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WHEN: Fri., May 12 @ Noon
WHERE: Bronx, N.Y. | Bahoshy Field (Fordham)
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HISTORY: This season: Patriots won the series against the Ramblers, winning two of three on March 18-19. In the playoffs: Mason shutout Loyola 3-0 in the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinal on May 12.
A-10 TOURNAMENT SEEDING AND SCHEDULE
The rest of the seeding for this year's tournament is the following:
- No. 1: Saint Louis (29-25, 20-5 A-10) - ELIMINATED, MAY 12
- No. 2: Loyola Chicago (26-22, 18-6 A-10)
- No. 3: Dayton (35-20, 15-7 A-10) - ELIMINATED, MAY 12
- No. 4: George Mason (34-21, 16-10 A-10)
- No. 5: Fordham (20-28, 11-10 A-10) - ELIMINATED, MAY 10
- No. 6: Rhode Island (23-31-1, 12-13 A-10) - ELIMINATED, MAY 11
The Tournament schedule is the following:
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
- Game 1: #4 George Mason def. #5 Fordham, 1-0
- Game 2: #3 Dayton def. #6 Rhode Island, 4-1
- Game 3: #6 Rhode Island def. #5 Fordham (ELIMINATED), 9-6
THURSDAY, MAY 11
- Game 4: #4 George Mason def. #1 Saint Louis, 5-2
- Game 5: #2 Loyola Chicago def. # 3 Dayton, 7-1
- Game 6: #3 Dayton def. #6 Rhode Island (ELIMINATED), 6-0
FRIDAY, MAY 12
- Game 7: #4 George Mason def. #2 Loyola Chicago, 3-0
- Game 8: #1 Saint Louis def. #3 Dayton (ELIMINATED), 4-3
- Game 9: #2 Loyola Chicago def. #1 Saint Louis (ELIMINATED), 7-5 (9)
SATURDAY, MAY 13
- Game 10: #2 Loyola Chicago vs. #4 George Mason, Noon
- Game 11: If Necessary
The rest of the A-10 Softball Championship Tournament schedule can be viewed here.
Bronx, N.Y. – For the first time in program history, the #4 George Mason softball team (34-21, 16-10 A-10) will compete for an Atlantic 10 Championship. They will meet #2 Loyola Chicago (26-22, 18-6 A-10) again in the A-10 Championship game on Saturday, May 13 at noon at Bahoshy Field in Fordham. Loyola Chicago, after losing to Mason in the semifinal game earlier today, staved off elimination and defeated top-seeded Saint Louis 7-5 in nine innings in the consolation bracket side of the tournament. In their first year in the Atlantic 10, Loyola Chicago will also be playing in their first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship game.
In order for Mason to win the conference title, they will only need the Saturday noon game. For Loyola, however, the Ramblers must win the noon game in order to force a final winner-take-all game slated for later in the day.
In their last meeting, the Patriots shut out the Ramblers 3-0.
MASON'S HISTORY IN THE ATLANTIC 10 TOURNAMENT
The last time Mason competed in the A-10 Tournament was in 2018. The 2018 Patriots (22-28, 12-11 A-10) were seeded No. 4. in the tournament and
suffered a first day exit, losing to #5 Saint Louis 5-2, followed by another loss to #3 Dayton 4-2. Before this season's 16 conference wins, 2018's team had recorded the most conference wins in program history with 12. Before this year's tournament, the Patriots deepest playoff run was in 2015, when they made it as far as the semifinals.
CONFERENCE LEADERS (SLASH LINES/STATS ARE FROM THE REGULAR SEASON AND DO NOT REFLECT PLAYOFF GAMES)
In the Atlantic 10, the Patriots were first in overall regular season stats in the following:
- Fielding (.976), doubles (81) and triples (18).
- Individually, senior Haley Taormina (.350 / .417 / .611) led the conference in doubles (19). She was also second in RBI (43). Nicole Bechtel (.352 / .429 / .535) was third (38).
- Rookie Elyssa DeRosa (.347 / .472 / .592) led the conference in the triples category (7). Marlaina Bozek (.346 / .431 / .488) was seventh (3).
- Senior shortstop Rachel Warrens (.301 / .384 / .458) led the conference in stolen bases with 31.
- Graduate pitcher Aly Rayle (15-8, 2.20 ERA, 1 SV) led the conference in overall strikeouts (203) and looking strikeouts (59). She was second in wins (15) and third in ERA (2.20)
- Three Patriots made up the top ten best batting averages in the conference: Haley Taormina, Elyssa DeRosa, and Nicole Bechtel
- The Patriots were second in pitching ERA (2.80) and third in batting average (.285).
NATIONAL LEADERS
Nationally, the Patriots as a team are ranked sixth in stolen bases per game (2.55). Individually, third baseman Haley Taormina leads in the nation in doubles (19) and is third in doubles per game (0.39). Left fielder Elyssa DeRosa, on the other hand, is third in the nation in triples (7) and is third in triples per game (0.18).
A LOOK AT THE PATRIOTS
The 2023 Patriots finished their season with 31 total wins. This is the first time the Patriots had 30 wins since the 2003 season. The Patriots this season also set a new record for most conference wins in a season with 16. Other notable records broken this year were the following:
- Home Runs - 23 (Old record: 22 in 2015)
- Doubles - 81 (Old record: 79 in 2002)
- Stolen Bases - 131 (Old record: 96 in 2004 & 1995)
- Walks - 176 (Old record: 159 in 1995)
- Fielding Percentage - .976 (Old record: .964 in 2021)
CONFERENCE END OF SEASON AWARDS
Two hours before the start of the tournament, the Atlantic 10 announced this year's postseason awards. The conference named four George Mason players over three categories. The winners were the following:
- Pitcher of the Year: Aly Rayle
- First Team All-Conference
- Second Team All-Conference
In program history, Mason now has two Pitcher of the Year awards, seven First Team All-Conference awards and 11 Second Team All-Conference awards.
THURSDAY SEMIFINAL GAME RECAP: #4 MASON 3, #2 LOYOLA CHICAGO 0
Similar to yesterday's quarterfinal game, the Patriots hit a first inning home run to take the lead and never looked back. The game began with a Marlaina Bozek (1-2, R) leadoff walk. Up to bat next was Haley Taormina, who hit her second first inning home run in as many days, sending the ball over the wall in left center field. With nobody out, the Patriots had taken an early 2-0 lead.
The final run of the game came later in the inning by way of another home run. This time, it was Maddy Myers who hit her second of the tournament. With two outs remaining in the first, Myers barreled what seemed to be an off-the-wall double to left center. After a brief umpires meeting in the infield, it was determined that the ball had in fact hit the top of the wall, indicating that it was a home run. Myers is now tied with Taormina with most home runs on the team this tournament.
Mason's pitcher Aly Rayle pitched her third consecutive complete game of the tournament. She started the game retiring the first nine batters in a row and ultimately finished the game allowing no runs or walks and having struck out seven Ramblers.
Rayle had tremendous defense behind her all game, especially in the bottom of the third inning. Loyola flared a shot to shallow right, junior Sydney Bales charged in and made a diving catch to keep the Ramblers off the bases. Later in the sixth, Rachel Warrens made a diving catch of her own to keep a Rambler ball from dropping in the infield.
The Ramblers threatened to score in the game's final frame. A leadoff double and single to shallow left put runners on the corners with nobody out. Unphased, Rayle in the Patriots managed to pitch around the late game jam. First Loyola popped up to Rachel Warrens in short, preventing the runners from tagging up. Then, Aly Rayle finished the game by striking out the final two batters.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
After Loyola gave up three runs to the Patriots in Friday afternoon's semifnal game, starting pitcher Peyton Pepkowski regained her footing and had a very strong outing, retiring at one point 12 Patriots in a row. However, the Patriot defense prevented any Loyola rhythym from taking shape. The game would ultimately end with the Patriots winning 3-0, sending the Ramblers to the consolation bracket where they would have to win out in order to keep their season alive.
After losing the first game to Mason earlier in the day, #2 Loyola Chicago defeated the #1 Saint Louis Billikens in Friday's last game. The Ramblers were up 5-2 with two outs remaining in the bottom of the seventh inning when Saint Louis mounted a furious comeback hitting multiple doubles and tying the game 5-5. The two top-seeded schools played a scoreless eighth inning. Heading into the ninth, with two Rambler runners aboard, Loyola put the ball in play where the Billiken shortstop committed a throwing error to first base, scoring two runs and giving the Ramblers the lead. Loyola would later secure the win by retiring the Billikens in order in the bottom of the ninth inning.
In their first year in the Atlantic 10, Loyola earned several postseason awards. The winners were the following:
- First Team All-Conference
- Madison Ebeling, shortstop
- Second Team All-Conference
- Amelia Thomas, first base
- Peyton Pepkowski, pitcher
- All-Rookie
- All-Academic
First Team All-Conference Madison Ebeling (.303 / .367 / .451) was a two-time Player of the Week led the team in at-bats (142), runs (29) and and stolen bases (17). The graduate infielder is also one of the toughest batters to strike out. According to the NCAA, she is ranked 54th in that statistical category.
Secord Team All-Conference first baseman Amelia Thomas (.319 / .423 / .504) leads the team in batting average (.319), OPS (.927), hits (43), triples (3), total bags (68), on base percentage (.423) and slugging percentage (.504) .
Both Ebeling and Thomas share the lead for most hits (43) and home runs on the team (3).
Four Ramblers have now recorded 20 or more RBI this season. Ebeling and Thomas have 20, while junior infielder Sydney Barnett (.311 / .394 / .451) has the most with 28 and senior sophomore infielder Haley Wallace (.285 / .366 / .408) has 27. The four players combined also make up ten of Loyola's 11 homers on the season.
Barnett and Wallace have the third and fourth most hits on the team, respectively. Barnett has 38 hits while Wallace has 37.
On the pitching side, Second Team All-Conference pitcher Peyton Pepkowski (15-11, 2.41 ERA) has seen the most action. The sophomore has pitched 165.2 innings this season and leads the team in strikeouts with 173. For comparison, the rest of the Loyola pitching staff has recorded only 53 strikeouts on the year.
Their second-most used pitcher, Andie Broniewicz (8-8, 2.64 ERA), has 114 innings pitched and 44 strikeouts. Rounding out the pitching rotation is Bailey Johnson (2-3, 3.82 ERA), who has pitched only 40.1 innings and has 9 strikeouts.
TEAM STAT COMPARISONS (PLAYOFF GAMES INCLUDED): Mason (55 games played) | Loyola Chicago (48 games played)
BATTING
AVG: .279 | .263
OBP: .359 | .336
SLG: .420 | .345
R: 250 | 188
H: 397 | 332
2B: 83 | 58
3B: 18 | 6
HR: 27 | 11
RBI: 216 | 155
PITCHING
ERA: 2.68 | 2.67
SO: 339 | 226
R: 172 | 164
ER: 144 | 122
H: 331 | 304
2B: 65 | 65
3B: 13 | 17
HR: 26 | 20
