George Washington University
23-27, 10-13
Saint Louis
24-24, 14-8
GW Softball Grabs A-10 Championship Berth
5/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
ST. LOUIS - The George Washington softball squad clinched a spot at the Atlantic 10 Championship for the first time since 2013 with a victory at Saint Louis on Sunday afternoon at the Billiken Sports Center.
GW (23-27, 10-13 A-10) triumphed over the Billikens (24-24, 14-8) to take the final game of the series, 7-3, and wrap the regular season with a win. The Colonials enter the A-10 Championship as the sixth seed and will play in the first round on Wednesday at the GW Softball Field on the Mount Vernon Campus.
Sophomore Sarah Costlow (14-13, 2.50 ERA) earned the complete game win as GW capitalized on SLU errors to put the game out of reach.
The Colonials took advantage of a SLU error in the top of the first to grab five runs on five hits to take an early lead. Junior Megan Linn doubled with two outs and scored on a single by senior Carlee Gray for the first run of the day. Freshman Riley Tejcek then reached on an error to put runners on the corners. Back-to-back RBI singles by sophomore Rochelle Draper and senior Morgan Matetic kept the inning going. Consecutive walks to Costlow and rookie Ashley Schnarrs produced another run before a single by sophomore Alana Anderson plated GW's fifth and final run of the first.
The Buff and Blue added another in the fourth after junior Paige Kovalsky doubled and later scored on a foul sacrifice fly by Gray to take a 6-0 lead.
SLU got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, scoring one unearned run.
GW scored again in the sixth after Anderson reached base on an error to begin the frame. A bunt single by Linn and a fielder's choice from Gray put runners on the corners for Tejcek, who induced another error to plate Anderson for a 7-1 lead.
The Billikens tallied two more in the bottom half of the inning, using two singles and a double to put the score at 7-3 after six, but would not score again as the Colonials claimed the victory.
Matetic (2-for-3, RBI, Run), Draper (2-for-4, RBI, Run), Anderson (2-for-5, RBI, Run) and Linn (2-for-4, Run) each tallied multi-hit performances as the Colonials posted 10 hits on the day.
Linn's one stolen base on the day ties her for GW's program record of 72 career steals with Amanda Zakeri ('13).
The Colonials will open A-10 Championship play on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Costlow, Sarah (14-13)
L: LORE, Brianna (12-13)
Batting:
2B: Kovalsky, Paige 1 ; Linn, Megan 1 ; Matetic, Morgan 1
RBI: Anderson, Alana 1 ; Gray, Carlee 2 ; Draper, Rochelle 1 ; Matetic, Morgan 1 ; Schnarrs, Ashley 1
SH: Costlow, Sarah 1
SF: Gray, Carlee 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Anderson, Alana 1 ; Kovalsky, Paige 1 ; Linn, Megan 1 ; Gray, Carlee 1 ; Tejcek, Riley 1 ; Draper, Rochelle 1 ; Matetic, Morgan 1
SB: Linn, Megan 1 ; Matetic, Morgan 1
Batting:
2B: TARQUINIO, Alyssa 1
RBI: TARQUINIO, Alyssa 1 ; WEAVERS, Hailey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: COTTON, Miranda 1 ; TARQUINIO, Alyssa 1 ; DURANT, Brittany 1
SB: PETER, Mackenzie 1 ; BUCKLES, Emma 1 ; COTTON, Miranda 1 ; DURANT, Brittany 1 ; WEAVERS, Hailey 1 ; BRUNGARDT, Madeline 1
