April 19, 2005

Final Stats

Fairfax, Va.--George Mason University's softball team (17-24) split a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon with Saint Francis (Pa.) (9-32) as the Patriots claimed a 5-4 victory in the first game and fell by a score of 5-0 in the second contest at George Mason Field.

Senior shortstop Stacy James (Leesburg, Va.), who was 3-4 at the plate in the opening contest, started the Patriots off with a single to left centerfield, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt by freshman Jenna Cooksey (Bowie, Md.). Freshman Emily Miller (Springfield, Va.) earned an RBI as she connected on a single, which brought James across home plate to put the Patriots ahead, 1-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, sophomore Megan Farrell (Medford, N.J.) knocked one down the rightfield line for a triple and scored after freshman Reanna Gallegos (Springfield, Va.) singled up the middle. Freshman Kristin Dickel (North Wales, Pa.) also earned an RBI as she brought Gallegos home after hitting a single to leftfield, which gave Mason a 3-1 lead.

Kate Lancaster helped put Saint Francis in the lead in the seventh inning as she connected on a homerun to leftfield, which also scored Christine MacDonald and gave the Red Flash a 4-3 lead. The Patriots opened up the bottom of the seventh with three-straight singles to load the bases and Cooksey was walked to drive in the game-tying run. Miller was fifth up to bat and hit a single, which scored freshman Amanda Bach (Chesapeake, Va.) to give Mason the 5-4 win.

Freshman Amber Straube (Virginia Beach, Va.) improved her overall record to 7-9 in the circle as she pitched all seven innings for the Patriots. Straube gave up four runs off of 11 hits, while striking out three of the 31 Red Flash she faced. Saint Francis pitcher Jeanine Gargiulo gave up five runs off of 12 hits, while walking one and striking out 30 of the batters.

Mason collected seven hits in the second contest, which included a triple by Gallegos in the bottom of the second. James was 2-4 at the plate, while Miller was 2-3 in Mason's loss. Gallegos garnered another hit, while freshman Lesley Hassen (Virginia Beach, Va.) singled to centerfield in the sixth.

Saint Francis scored all of its runs in the top of the fourth, which included a homerun by both Melissa Mackel and Nicole Bender.

Freshman Arielle Weinkofsky pitched four innings for the Patriots and gave up five runs off of seven hits, while walking two and striking out four. Farrell relieved Weinkofsky in the top of the fifth inning and gave up three hits on the 10 batters she faced. Ashley Harlan was on the mound the entire game for the Red Flash and gave up seven hits, while walking one and striking out three of the 29 Patriots she faced at the plate.