George Washington University Athletics
Softball Concludes Regular Season at Saint Louis
5/3/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Priscilla MartinezSo. || 5-3 || C
Fountain Valley, CA
Martinez put together a .500/.556/.625 slash line with four RBIs and two runs scored in the series win over Saint Joseph's, highlighted by a 2-for-2 performance with a walk, plus two RBIs and a run scored in Sunday's 8-2 victory. The sophomore is batting .341 for the spring and ranks third on the squad in RBIs (28) and fourth in doubles (10).
The Colonials are set for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Billikens Sports Center before Sunday's finale with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
GW (30-18, 10-10) heads into the weekend in sixth place in the conference standings and in position to claim a spot in the six-team field for the A-10 Championship, which begins next Wednesday at Fordham's Bahoshy Field.
LAST TIME OUT: GW secured a series victory over Saint Joseph's last Sunday with an 8-2 victory on Senior Day on the Mount Vernon Campus.
Sierra Lange tossed her second complete game of the weekend, holding the Hawks without an earned run for her 12th victory of the season. Jenna Cone, Elena Shelepak and Priscilla Martinez combined to knock in all eight runs for the Colonials.
GW started the series with a Saturday doubleheader split, taking the series opener 4-2 thanks to a four-run first inning and another gem from Lange. It was their 29th win of the spring to break the program's single-season record.
In two starts against the Hawks, Lange compiled a 1.00 ERA (2 ER in 14 innings) with nine strikeouts.
Cone reached base in all three games, extending her program-record streak to 32 games. The sophomore drove in seven runs to increase her A-10 leading total to 58 for the season.
READY TO HELP: GW has three freshmen among its top five hitters, paced by Alessandra Ponce, who is hitting .400 with 12 doubles, two triples and two home runs in 95 at-bats. The newcomer from Nevada has a chance to break Cone's program freshman batting average record of .395, set last season. She had a 14-game hitting streak earlier this season to set that freshman mark, as well.
Sidney Bloomfield (.375) and Lange (.363) are also putting together strong debut campaigns. Bloomfield has tied Olympian Elana Meyers Taylor for the program's freshman record with her three triples, while Lange already ranks among GW's top-five freshmen all-time in wins (12), strikeouts (95) and innings pitched (114 1/3) with her work in the pitching circle.
NATIONAL LEADER: Cone ranks among the top 100 in the country in a slew of offensive categories, including batting average, doubles, RBIs, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The sophomore standout tops the national list with her seven sacrifice flies, entering the weekend tied with Liberty's Autumn Bishop and Northern Kentucky's Sydney Ferrante.
Cone has nearly doubled up the previous GW single-season record of four, which was most recently accomplished by Paige Kovalsky last season. Her 10 career sac flies are already a program record, as well.
SCOUTING SAINT LOUIS: The Bilikens (26-25, 10-8) improved to fifth in the A-10 standings with their road sweep of La Salle last weekend. They picked up their fourth consecutive victory Wednesday, downing Indiana State, 1-0.
Sadie Wise leads the A-10 with 16 home runs in her freshman season, while Maddie Baalman is second in the conference in wins (14) and third in strikeouts (124) as a senior.
GW dropped two of three to Saint Louis in last year's series on the Mount Vernon Campus.
ON DECK: After the regular season concludes Sunday, the bracket will be set for the A-10 Championship, which will determine the conference's automatic NCAA berth.
