George Washington University
18-16, 2-7
GEORGE MASON
13-19, 6-5
GW Softball Splits with Mason
4/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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April 8, 2015
WASHINGTON - The George Washington softball squad split a mid-week Atlantic 10 doubleheader with Revolutionary Rival George Mason on Wednesday afternoon at the GW Softball Field on the Mount Vernon Campus.
The Colonials (17-16, 2-7 A-10) fell in extra innings, 4-3, to the Patriots (12-8, 5-5 A-10) before taking the nightcap in come-from-behind fashion, 3-2.
In game one, freshman starter Sarah Costlow was locked in a pitcher's duel until the fourth inning, when a Mason double preceded a home run to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead.
The Colonials answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning, when senior Victoria Valos led off with a double and scored after back-to-back singles by sophomores Monica Macchiarulo and Paige Kovalsky.
The Buff and Blue took the lead in the fifth on a two-run home run by Valos, her team-leading sixth of the year.
Mason knotted the game at three in the sixth on a long ball of its own. No runs by either team in the seventh led to extra innings.
The Patriots began the eighth with a pair of singles to put runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly gave Mason the edge and the eventual 4-3 victory after the Colonials could not score in the bottom of the frame.
Kovalsky got the start in the nightcap, but ran into trouble early as four walks in the first gave Mason a 1-0 lead.
However, GW quickly came back and took the lead when sophomore Bradleigh Breland singled, stole second and scored on a hit by junior Carlee Gray. Kovalsky helped her own cause, plating Gray with an RBI single of her own to give the Colonials a 2-1 lead after one.
The Patriots tied the game in the third with the help of a Colonials miscue.
The winning run came in the fourth by virtue of small ball by the Buff and Blue. Senior Samantha Dos Santos led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Rochelle Draper. Dos Santos then tagged up on a fly ball from sophomore Megan Linn and scored on an infield single by Breland. The 3-2 lead would stick to for the remainder of the game, giving the Colonials their second conference win of the season.
Kovalsky (7-1) tallied her fifth complete game of the season and her second victory in A-10 play.
Macchiarulo notched a trio of hits on the day while five other Colonials tallied a pair of their own in the doubleheader. Valos (2-for-5, 2 R, 2 BB) and Kovalsky (2-for-6) each batted in two runs against the Patriots.
Valos sits just four hits shy of 200, a mark met only once before in program history.
With the split, the Revolutionary Rivalry point will be divided between GW and George Mason, as the Colonials now lead, 7.5-5.5.
GW continues its homestand this weekend, as Saint Louis visits the Mount Vernon Campus for a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday in an A-10 matchup.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kovalsky, Paige (7-1)
L: Gabriele, Christina (5-8)
Batting:
RBI: Maioran, Angela 2
SH: O'Connor, Mary 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Seymour, Liz 1 ; Blankenship, Brooke 1
Batting:
RBI: Breland, Bradleigh 1 ; Gray, Carlee 1 ; Kovalsky, Paige 1
SH: Kovalsky, Paige 1 ; Draper, Rochelle 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Breland, Bradleigh 1 ; Gray, Carlee 1 ; Santos, Samantha 1
SB: Breland, Bradleigh 1
