George Washington University
22-13, 2-5
Rhode Island
8-21, 3-3
Softball Drops Opener at Rhode Island
4/8/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
KINGSTON, R.I. - George Washington softball dropped a marathon series opener Sunday afternoon at Rhode Island, 6-5, in 12 innings.
The Colonials rallied from down 5-0 to force extra innings, but the Rams claimed the victory on Melanie Martire's walk-off home run to lead off the 12th.
It was the longest game for GW since a 14-inning win over Fordham at the 2012 A-10 Championship.The second game of the doubleheader was suspended with GW up 3-0 after four innings. It will be resumed from that point and completed prior to Monday's series finale between the Colonials (22-13, 2-5 A-10) and Rams (8-21, 3-3)
In Sunday's opener, Rhode Island built its lead with three runs in the third inning and two in the fourth before GW surged back. Elena Shelepak made it 5-3 in the sixth with her sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot over the left field fence. Then, Morgan Rinehart added an RBI double in the inning that brought home Sierra Lange.
Down to their final out in the seventh, the Colonials extended the game with Shelepak's single to score Riley Tejcek, a pinch runner after Jenna Cone's double. It was the sophomore from New York's fourth RBI of the game.
The score held there until the 12th with GW leaning on the pitching of Sierra Lange and Faith Weber. Lange pitched the first eight innings before giving way to Weber, who fired three scoreless frames before allowing Martire's game-ending homer in the 12th.
Nine different Colonials recorded hits with Shelepak and Criza Bulanadi posting two apiece. Six of their 11 hits went for extra bases with five doubles and Shelepak's homer.
In the second game, GW jumped on top with two runs in the second inning. Lange drove home Shelepak with her first career triple and scored on Morgan Rinehart's sacrifice fly. The lead reached 3-0 on Cone's third-inning sacrifice fly to score Sidney Bloomfield.
Sarah Costlow pitched four scoreless innings for the Colonials before play was halted. She'd limited the Rams to two hits with two strikeouts against one walk.
ON DECK: The A-10 series is slated to wrap up Monday afternoon with the second game resuming at 1 p.m. and the final game to follow. Next weekend, GW continues its conference slate hosting La Salle for three games on the Mount Vernon Campus.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: WARAKSY (3-1)
L: Weber, Faith (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Cone, Jenna 1 ; Martinez, Priscilla 1 ; Ponce, Alessandra 1 ; Lange, Sierra 1 ; Rinehart, Morgan 1
HR: Shelepak, Elena 1
RBI: Shelepak, Elena 4 ; Rinehart, Morgan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cone, Jenna 1 ; Tejcek, Riley 1 ; Martinez, Priscilla 1 ; Shelepak, Elena 1 ; Lange, Sierra 1
SB: Bulanadi, Criza 1
Batting:
2B: FENBERT 1
HR: MARTIRE 1
RBI: FENBERT 2 ; SHIVERY 2 ; MARTIRE 1
Base Running:
RUNS: TORO 2 ; ROBLES 1 ; MARTIRE 1 ; KUHLMAN 1 ; HOLLAND 1
SB: TORO 1 ; SHIVERY 1 ; KUHLMAN 1 ; HOLLAND 1
HBP: ROBLES 1
