SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The George Mason softball team lost close games in Saturday's installment of the Inaugural Terrier Invite in Spartanburg, S.C. The Patriots were edged out by the Terriers in Game #1 by the score of 7 to 5, and they were walked off 4-3 again in Game #2, this time by Eastern Kentucky.
PATRIOT HIGHLIGHTS
- Logan Pickford went 2-for-3 and hit the team's first home run Game #2 against Eastern Kentucky. It was also the team's first homer of the season.
- Rachel Warrens went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in Game #1 against Wofford. Elyssa DeRosa went 2-for-4 in the same game.
- Jordan Tallman saw her first start of the season against Wofford, going 3.1 innings and recording five strikeouts.
- Kaleigh Friend made her collegiate debut as a pinch hitter in the top of the sixth inning in Game #1 of the Wofford game.
GEORGE MASON 5, WOFFORD 7
Mason faced off against Wofford, the hosts of the tournament, in a 12:30 game. The Patriots scored in the early innings, holding a 3-0 lead before the Terriers scored seven unanswered runs in the span of two innings.
Mason's bats started out hot to begin the game. Leadoff hitter Rachel Warrens (3-4, 2 R) hit a double to left field, and the following batter, Elyssa DeRosa (2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI) hit an RBI single to score Warrens from second. Third up was Marlaina Bozek (1-4), who hit a single to place her on second and DeRosa on third. Maddy Myers (1-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB) scored the second run of the inning with a groundout RBI to short.
Starting pitcher Jordan Tallman (3.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K) got her first start of the season. The Latrobe, Pa., native retired the Wofford side in order in the bottom of the first inning, striking out two Terriers and popping one up to short.
Mason's third run of the game came in the top of the second, where Charlotte Montgomery (0-2, 1 R) reached first on a throwing error by Wofford's third baseman. After another error on the play, Montgomery was able to round all the bases and touch home. In the bottom half of the inning, Jordan Tallman retired the side in order again, collecting two more strikeouts.
After Wofford stole home in the bottom of the third to score their first run of the day, the Terriers broke the game wide open with a five-hit, six-run bottom of the fourth inning, which would knock out starting pitcher Tallman and have Jordan Anderson (2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) enter. The inning saw a leadoff home run, a passed ball that resulted in a run, two RBI singles and an RBI triple. At the end of the inning, Mason was down 7-3.
The Patriots began to chip at the Terrier lead in the top of the sixth, when sophomore catcher Logan Pickford (1-3, 1 RBI) singled through the right side, scoring Maddy Myers from third. The Patriots were unable to capitalize, having two runners on base with nobody out, however, as Pickford's RBI single was the only score of the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Maddy Myers hit a two-out RBI single to right, scoring Rachel Warrens from third, cutting the deficit to only two runs. Wofford's closer, Abby Greenwood, was able to record the final out of the game one batter later.
GEORGE MASON 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 4
In the second game, Carly Cooper (6.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) took the circle for her second start of the season. The senior kept control of the game up until the very end, when Eastern Kentucky rattled off a walk off win.
In the second game of the afternoon, the Patriots squared off against the Colonels for the second straight day. Mason struck first in the top of the second inning, when a Colonel fielding error scored Sydney Bales (0-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB) from third and Kamryn Inman (0-2, 1 R, 1 BB) from first.
The Patriots extended their lead to three runs after Logan Pickford (2-3, 1 HR) hit her first career home run in the top of the fifth inning. The sophomore's solo shot gave Mason their first homer of the season as it flew over the left field wall.
Eastern Kentucky responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. With the bases loaded and two out, Reese Knox reached first safely because of a Mason fielding error, allowing both Jaelin Haynes and pinch runner Maggie Pertee to score unearned runs.
The Patriots' lead would be lost in the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out, Jasmine Miller hit the game-tying home run to center field. Madison Scott then hit a single and advanced to second on an infield error, and Kennedy Grafton's walk off RBI single to right scored Scott from second.
UP NEXT
Mason's Sunday game has been canceled due to the rainy weather in Spartanburg.
The Patriots will be on the road again next week (Feb. 16-18), traveling to Harrisonburg, Va., for another tournament. The Weiler Orthodontics Invitational, hosted by James Madison, will feature games against the Dukes, Lehigh and Villanova.
