George Washington University
40-15
Saint Louis
18-32
Softball Opens A-10 Championship with Victory
5/8/2019 4:26:00 PM | Softball
Colonials held off Saint Louis on Wednesday
With their 40th victory of the season, the third-seeded Colonials advance to a matchup vs. No. 2 UMass on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
A day after being named A-10 Player of the Year, Cone tied the conference mark for home runs in a season with her three-run blast in the second inning, while Lange hung tough after turning her ankle on the bases to earn her 27th win of the season.
GW jumped in front 1-0 in the top of the first, capitalizing on a pair of errors by the Billikens. Jessica Linquist led off the game with a single and came around to score her 60th run of the season.
After Saint Louis tied it with a run in the top of the second, the Colonials went back in front for good with three runs on five hits in the bottom of the frame.
Cone followed singles by Sidney Bloomfield and Linquist with a towering opposite-field homer to extend the lead to 4-1. The long ball pushed her conference-leading RBI total to 66 for the spring.
Lange handled the rest, deftly working around trouble in spite of her sore ankle throughout the afternoon. GW's ace ceded eight hits, two walks and two hit batters but just three runs.
After Saint Louis edged within 4-3 on Sadie Wise's two-run home run in the fourth, Lange closed the door with three straight scoreless frames. In the seventh, she hit the leadoff batter but then retired the next three hitters to close out a victory to begin the double-elimination tournament.
Linquist and Bloomfield each recorded two of GW's 10 hits. Priscilla Martinez knocked in GW's first-inning run with a bases-loaded grounder that turned into an error and later added a double.
UP NEXT:Â GW will next face the host Minutewomen on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The winner will play either top-seeded Fordham or No. 5 seed Saint Joseph's on Friday for a spot in Saturday's final.
WATCH THIS: Hear from head coach Shane Winkler and Cone after Wednesday's win over Saint Louis.
"In tournament play, sometimes you've got to do just enough."
— GW Softball (@GW_Softball) May 8, 2019
Hear from Head Coach Shane Winkler and Jenna Cone after our 4-3 win over Saint Louis to kick off the A-10 Championship! #RaiseHigh pic.twitter.com/DBS2TxNjQG
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lange, Sierra (27-11)
L: LOVELESS, Kallen (10-14)
Batting:
2B: BREITBACH, Kaylyn 2
HR: WISE, Sadie 1
RBI: WISE, Sadie 3
SH: CONNELL, Maria 1
Base Running:
RUNS: LANE, Kat 1 ; WISE, Sadie 1 ; LAWSON, Mackenzie 1
HBP: KOWALIK, Gabbie 2
Batting:
2B: Martinez, Priscilla 1
HR: Cone, Jenna 1
RBI: Cone, Jenna 3 ; Martinez, Priscilla 1
SH: Lange, Sierra 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Linquist, Jessica 2 ; Cone, Jenna 1 ; Bloomfield, Sidney 1
SB: Fuentes, Marta 1 ; Bulanadi, Criza 1
