George Washington University
5-12
Princeton
3-4
Softball Walks Off Princeton
3/1/2020 4:32:00 PM | Softball
Shelepak's blast clinches winning weekend
The Colonials trailed by a run entering the final half inning before Sidney Bloomfield's two-out single tied it and Shelepak's first long ball of the season clinched the victory and a winning weekend on the Mount Vernon Campus.
After falling in its home opener to Towson on Friday in extra innings, GW bounced back to defeat Morgan State and Princeton. The weekend finale vs. Georgetown was postponed due to darkness and will be made up at a later date.
On Sunday morning, GW built an early lead with a four-run second inning. Hannah Eslick and Maggie Greco stoked the threat with singles and came around to score on Jessica Linquist's deep fly ball that was dropped for an error.
Jenna Cone followed with her first home run of the season at the Vern, a two-run shot over the left field fence to make it 4-0.
Princeton equalized by scoring twice in both the fifth and sixth innings. Both teams pushed runners into scoring position in the seventh but neither could push them home.
With the international tiebreaker in effect, Princeton was able to score its runner from second base with an RBI single, but GW's Faith Weber was able to get an inning-ending strikeout to avoid further trouble.
A groundout and a flyout put the Colonials on the brink of defeat before Bloomfield came up with a clutch hit and Shelepak swatted one out of the park to set off a celebration at home plate.
Weber went the distance in the circle for her second eight-inning complete game of the weekend. The senior from New Jersey battled from start to finish, stranding 10 runners on base. She allowed five runs (four earned) on 12 hits with seven strikeouts in her fourth victory of the season.
Offensively, GW generated plenty of traffic on the bases themselves thanks to 11 hits, five walks and a hit batter.
Shelepak's homer followed a five-RBI effort in Saturday's win over Morgan State. The senior from New York now has now driven in a team-leading 13 runs.
In addition to her homer, Cone also walked twice. The senior slugger reached in eight of her 12 plate appearances on the weekend with two hits and six BBs.
Linquist went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Alessandra Ponce and Bloomfield tallied two hits apiece.
ON DECK:Â GW is back on the Vern next weekend, hosting the three-day Buff and Blue Challenge. The Colonials will open the event Friday vs. Winthrop at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Weber, Faith (4-7)
L: Laudenslager, Alexis (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Meyer, Mackenzie 1 ; Lutz, Hannah 1 ; Chang, Adrienne 2
RBI: Harvey, Allison 2 ; Chang, Adrienne 2 ; Murphy, Lauren 1
SH: Hoffman, Haley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lutz, Hannah 2 ; Chang, Adrienne 1 ; Bish, Caitlin 1 ; Starks, Serena 1
SB: Hamilton, Madison 1 ; Meyer, Mackenzie 1
HBP: Lutz, Hannah 1
Batting:
2B: Ponce, Alessandra 1
HR: Cone, Jenna 1 ; Shelepak, Elena 1
RBI: Linquist, Jessica 1 ; Cone, Jenna 2 ; Bloomfield, Sidney 1 ; Shelepak, Elena 2
SH: Greco, Maggie 1
SF: Linquist, Jessica 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Linquist, Jessica 2 ; Cone, Jenna 1 ; Bloomfield, Sidney 1 ; Shelepak, Elena 1 ; Eslick, Hannah 1 ; Greco, Maggie 1
SB: Linquist, Jessica 1 ; Bloomfield, Sidney 2
HBP: Shelepak, Elena 1
