Saturday, May 15
Merion Station, PA
12 PM
George Washington University
21-25
3
vs
2
Dayton
36-9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Dayton
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
7
0
George Washington
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
3
8
0
A-10 CHAMPS: Softball Completes Dramatic Title Run
5/15/2021 6:26:00 PM | Softball
Buff & Blue won twice on Saturday to take title
MERION STATION, Pa. - GW softball completed its run to history on Saturday, sweeping a pair of games from Dayton to take the A-10 Championship title and secure its first NCAA berth.
Alexa Williams' walk-off single in the ninth inning gave the Buff and Blue a 3-2 victory to force a winner-take-all finale that they won 7-2 behind an 11-hit attack punctuated by a two-run home run from Alessandra Ponce.
Sierra Lange was named Most Outstanding Player after pitching 14 total innings to earn wins in both games. The A-10 Pitcher of the Year finished the week 4-1 with a 1.27 ERA and 29 strikeouts across 33 innings while also hitting .389 with six RBIs.
Saturday's sweep provided a tremendous finish to a week that started with a loss to the Flyers on Thursday. The top-seeded Colonials had to dig deep to win four straight elimination games, and they got it done in dramatic fashion behind the gutsy pitching of Lange and timely hitting from their nationally-ranked offense.
After Amber Lotz squeezed the game-ending pop up to clinch the championship, the group rushed to dive into a joyous pile behind the pitcher's rubber to celebrate more history in an unforgettable spring.
Eager to chase lofty goals after sharing the A-10 Championship title in 2019 due to a final day rainout, Head Coach Shane Winkler's veteran group found a way to add the tournament trophy to their first-ever regular season crown and earn the right to represent the conference on the national stage. They will find out their NCAA destination on Sunday night during the selection show televised on ESPN2 at 9 p.m.
In addition to Lange, Ponce, Sidney Bloomfield, Jenna Cone and Amber Lotz were honored on the All-Championship Team in recognition of their outstanding play on the road to a title.
GW 7, Dayton 2: The Buff and Blue were able to carry over momentum from their walk-off win to take the winner-take-all finale.
GW was able to solve Dayton starter Addy Bullis in the bottom of the second inning, striking for three two-out runs on back-to-back-to-back RBI hits from Jessica Linquist, Cone and Lange.
The Buff and Blue were able to add a single run in the fourth on another RBI hit from Cone, and after Ehrenborg went deep to get the Flyers on the board in the fifth, Hannah Eslick ripped an RBI double to get the run back.
Ponce provided the exclamation point in the bottom of the sixth, sending a no-doubt shot over the left-field fence for her 12th homer of the season and second of the tournament.
Lange expertly worked around base-runners throughout the contest. She allowed six hits, two walks and an HBP in her five innings but managed to strand eight Flyers on the bases. Faith Weber took over in the circle to finish out the final two innings.
Cone finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Bloomfield posted her third multi-hit effort of the tournament with a pair of singles and scored twice. Weber and Lange also had two hits apiece.
In addition to her homer, Ponce also walked twice, finishing the tournament with six free passes and a .474 on-base percentage.
GW 3, Dayton 2 (9 innings): Williams' clutch hit delivered a win for the Buff and Blue that kept their title push alive.
After GW loaded the bases with no out in the ninth, it appeared that the Flyers might be able to escape the inning after a double play, but they intentionally walked Alessandra Ponce to re-load the bases and then Williams smacked a game-winning single into left field to score Jessica Linquist.
The contest pushed into extra innings after the Flyers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game on Abby Ehrenborg's two-out, two-run single.
Earlier, GW built a 2-0 lead with Amber Lotz in the middle of both rallies.
In the second inning, Lotz singled, stole second, moved to third on Bloomfield's infield single and then raced home on a double steal.
Lotz doubled the advantage in the fourth with a two-out RBI single to bring home Williams, who had doubled to open the frame.
Lotz was the catalyst with three hits on the day to equal a season high. Bloomfield also had a pair of hits right behind her at the bottom of the order.
Williams finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Meantime, Lange was excellent in the circle, ceding just the two runs on seven hits in the nine innings, which equaled a career high. After the rocky seventh, she retired all six batters she faced across the two extra innings.
Alexa Williams' walk-off single in the ninth inning gave the Buff and Blue a 3-2 victory to force a winner-take-all finale that they won 7-2 behind an 11-hit attack punctuated by a two-run home run from Alessandra Ponce.
Sierra Lange was named Most Outstanding Player after pitching 14 total innings to earn wins in both games. The A-10 Pitcher of the Year finished the week 4-1 with a 1.27 ERA and 29 strikeouts across 33 innings while also hitting .389 with six RBIs.
Saturday's sweep provided a tremendous finish to a week that started with a loss to the Flyers on Thursday. The top-seeded Colonials had to dig deep to win four straight elimination games, and they got it done in dramatic fashion behind the gutsy pitching of Lange and timely hitting from their nationally-ranked offense.
After Amber Lotz squeezed the game-ending pop up to clinch the championship, the group rushed to dive into a joyous pile behind the pitcher's rubber to celebrate more history in an unforgettable spring.
Eager to chase lofty goals after sharing the A-10 Championship title in 2019 due to a final day rainout, Head Coach Shane Winkler's veteran group found a way to add the tournament trophy to their first-ever regular season crown and earn the right to represent the conference on the national stage. They will find out their NCAA destination on Sunday night during the selection show televised on ESPN2 at 9 p.m.
In addition to Lange, Ponce, Sidney Bloomfield, Jenna Cone and Amber Lotz were honored on the All-Championship Team in recognition of their outstanding play on the road to a title.
THAT 🏆 FEELING! 🤩#RaiseHigh pic.twitter.com/l3obD68abl
— GW Softball (@GW_Softball) May 15, 2021
GW 7, Dayton 2: The Buff and Blue were able to carry over momentum from their walk-off win to take the winner-take-all finale.
GW was able to solve Dayton starter Addy Bullis in the bottom of the second inning, striking for three two-out runs on back-to-back-to-back RBI hits from Jessica Linquist, Cone and Lange.
The Buff and Blue were able to add a single run in the fourth on another RBI hit from Cone, and after Ehrenborg went deep to get the Flyers on the board in the fifth, Hannah Eslick ripped an RBI double to get the run back.
Ponce provided the exclamation point in the bottom of the sixth, sending a no-doubt shot over the left-field fence for her 12th homer of the season and second of the tournament.
Lange expertly worked around base-runners throughout the contest. She allowed six hits, two walks and an HBP in her five innings but managed to strand eight Flyers on the bases. Faith Weber took over in the circle to finish out the final two innings.
Cone finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Bloomfield posted her third multi-hit effort of the tournament with a pair of singles and scored twice. Weber and Lange also had two hits apiece.
In addition to her homer, Ponce also walked twice, finishing the tournament with six free passes and a .474 on-base percentage.
GW 3, Dayton 2 (9 innings): Williams' clutch hit delivered a win for the Buff and Blue that kept their title push alive.
After GW loaded the bases with no out in the ninth, it appeared that the Flyers might be able to escape the inning after a double play, but they intentionally walked Alessandra Ponce to re-load the bases and then Williams smacked a game-winning single into left field to score Jessica Linquist.
The contest pushed into extra innings after the Flyers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game on Abby Ehrenborg's two-out, two-run single.
Earlier, GW built a 2-0 lead with Amber Lotz in the middle of both rallies.
In the second inning, Lotz singled, stole second, moved to third on Bloomfield's infield single and then raced home on a double steal.
Lotz doubled the advantage in the fourth with a two-out RBI single to bring home Williams, who had doubled to open the frame.
Lotz was the catalyst with three hits on the day to equal a season high. Bloomfield also had a pair of hits right behind her at the bottom of the order.
Williams finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
Meantime, Lange was excellent in the circle, ceding just the two runs on seven hits in the nine innings, which equaled a career high. After the rocky seventh, she retired all six batters she faced across the two extra innings.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lange, Sierra (20-8)
L: BAILITZ, Sarah (4-8)
Batting:
2B: EHRENBORG, Abby 1
RBI: EHRENBORG, Abby 2
SH: WEEKLEY, Ali 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WEEKLEY, Ali 1 ; GIST, Megan 1
Batting:
2B: Williams, Alexa 1
RBI: Williams, Alexa 1 ; Lotz, Amber 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Linquist, Jessica 1 ; Williams, Alexa 1 ; Lotz, Amber 1
SB: Lotz, Amber 3 ; Bloomfield, Sidney 1
HBP: Linquist, Jessica 1 ; Cone, Jenna 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
UT
/ Softball
UT
/ SoftballIF
/ Softball
UT
/ Softball
UT
/ SoftballP
/ SoftballSoftball Gratitude Video
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