George Washington University
North Carolina
Softball Aims for More Success in 2022
2/10/2022 1:20:00 PM | Softball
Buff & Blue open season at South Carolina's Gamecock Invitational
Following a historic spring in which it won the Atlantic 10 title and made its first trip to the NCAA Tournament, GW softball opens the 2022 campaign this weekend at South Carolina’s Gamecock Invitational.
Under the direction of first-year Head Coach Chrissy Schoonmaker, the Buff and Blue dive right in on opening weekend with matchups vs. three Power 5 opponents on the docket, starting with a Friday afternoon showdown vs. North Carolina at Carolina Softball Stadium.
Tabbed the A-10 favorite again, GW brings back 16 student-athletes from its title-winning club, including five who made at least 45 starts, a list highlighted by reigning A-10 Pitcher of the Year Sierra Lange and three-time All-Conference selection Alessandra Ponce. The Buff and Blue have also added a trio of newcomers, headlined by veteran pitcher Maddy Dwyer via transfer from Stanford, as they head into the new season looking to build on their recent success and position themselves for another memorable May.
2021 REWIND: GW broke new ground every step of the way in 2021, compiling a 37-11 overall record on the way to A-10 regular season and tournament titles before closing the season at the Baton Rouge Regional.
Jenna Cone was named A-10 Player of the Year for a second time and an NFCA All-American, Lange earned conference Pitcher of the Year honors and Ponce, Alexa Williams, Jessica Linquist and Faith Weber also secured All-Conference recognition.
Behind that excellence, GW blitzed through the A-10 regular season with a 23-1 mark before completing a dramatic run to the tournament crown by battling back from an opening loss with four consecutive victories.
The Buff and Blue completed their championship push and punched their ticket to the national tournament by beating Dayton twice on the final day of the tournament.
Lange was named the A-10 Championship's Most Outstanding Player after starting all five games and recording a 4-1 record with a 1.27 ERA and 29 strikeouts across 33 innings. She was also a catalyst at the plate, hitting .389 with six RBIs for the week.
At the Baton Rouge Regional, GW made an epic NCAA debut behind more terrific pitching from Lange, battling Louisiana into the 11th inning before falling 1-0. Their tremendous spring closed a day later with a defeat vs. McNeese State.
ON TO WHAT’S NEXT: Schoonmaker arrived at her first team meeting with GW softball armed with trophies and awards celebrating the program’s 2021 accomplishments.
That history lives forever, the new head coach reminded the group. There’s no need to worry about defending the crown amid the attention that naturally comes along with such a special season.
“I think defending is a passive word,” said Schoonmaker, who was hired to lead the program on July 8. “If you’re defending something, it means that someone can take it. Day one in that first team meeting, I said, ‘We’re not defending anything, it’s yours. We’re looking at 2022 as a blank canvas, and we get to write the script.’”
GW will pen the opening chapter this weekend, taking the field at Schoonmaker’s alma mater with a revamped lineup.
There are familiar faces leading the way, to be sure. Lange, Ponce, Williams, Hannah Eslick and Olivia Vinyard were fixtures in the lineup throughout last season’s run and gained valuable experience in the sport’s brightest spotlight.
Yet, the Buff and Blue will also need contributions from folks stepping into new roles to help offset the losses of program greats like Cone, Linquist and Weber to graduation.
It’s why this group has Together emblazoned on the back of its practice shirts and has often used that word to break down team huddles in the lead up to Opening Day.
“It’s going to take all of us,” Schoonmaker said. “Every day, it might be a different leader that’s stepping up. We have 19 student-athletes on the roster, and it’s going to take all 19 of us to be as good as we can be.”
Schoonmaker is eager to see how her group responds to the challenge ahead.
In non-conference action, GW will play six contests vs. teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last spring, including a pair vs. national runner-up James Madison.
The Buff and Blue are set to face a handful of Power 5 opponents with two matchups vs. Virginia. They’ll see the Cavaliers down in South Carolina and later welcome them to the Mount Vernon Campus for a midweek clash on April 19.
In A-10 play, GW will face each of the other eight conference clubs in a three-game series. The Buff and Blue will host Fordham in their home debut on March 19-20 and also welcome Dayton, George Mason and Saint Louis to The Vern.
The top six squads in the regular season standings will qualify for the A-10 Championship, which runs May 11-14 at the George Mason Softball Complex.
“We talk about our schedule being intentional and really attacking people early and preparing our team for the A-10 slate,” said Schoonmaker, a veteran coach with NCAA experience as both an assistant and a student-athlete. “One of the things that we talk about as a program is, ‘Where do we want to be on May 15, on Selection Sunday?’ We want to be one of the 64 teams that has our name called on Selection Sunday, and to do that, we’ve got to prepare and go up against the best.”
LANGE’S LEGACY: Lange was sensational in all facets of the game last season in her return after missing 2020 due to a knee injury. The graduate student from Plano, Texas, went 21-10, plus a pair of saves, with a 1.78 ERA and 201 strikeouts vs. 23 walks in 188 1/3 innings while also hitting .392 with 44 runs scored, 34 RBIs, 18 extra-base hits and 14 steals. She finished in the top 100 nationally last season in 12 different statistical categories.
A two-time All-Conference First Team pick, Lange enters her final collegiate season as the program’s all-time leader in wins (67), strikeouts (562) and complete games (63) and among its top 10 in a slew of offensive categories including hits (185, sixth), runs (120, fifth), RBIs (103, seventh) and total bases (284, sixth).
PONCE’S PRESENCE: Batting clean-up in one of the nation’s most potent offenses, Ponce finished tied for ninth in the country a year ago by driving in 58 runs. The Henderson, Nev., native exploded for a program-record eight RBIs in a 14-5 win at St. Bonaventure on May 9 to close out the regular season.
In recognition of those efforts, Ponce was rewarded with her first All A-10 First Team nod, and she later landed a spot on the All A-10 Championship Team, as well. She carries a .327 career batting average into her final Opening Day and ranks among the program’s all-time top five in RBIs (132), slugging percentage (.563), doubles (42) and home runs (22).
SOPHOMORE SURGE: Williams put together a terrific rookie season in 2021, hitting .356 with 12 doubles, two triples and five home runs while playing solid defense in right field. She piled up 41 RBIs and struck out just nine times in 146 at-bats on the season en route to All-Conference and All-Region honors.
Williams supplied one of the biggest hits in program history at the A-10 Championship when she drove home Linquist with a walk-off single in the ninth inning for a 3-2 win over Dayton to set up the winner-take-all final.
WELCOME TO DC: A graduate student who opted to come to the nation’s capital to pursue a master’s in Media & Strategic Communication with aspirations to work in campaign communications, Dwyer joins the Buff & Blue after being a fixture of the Stanford staff over the past four seasons.
The veteran right-hander brings extensive experience competing vs. the nation's best to the Buff and Blue. Pitching for the Cardinal in the Pac-12, she tallied a 30-19 career record with a 2.76 ERA and 189 strikeouts in 296 2/3 innings pitched, including a complete-game victory vs. Manhattan at the Fayetteville Regional in NCAA play.
AROUND THE DIAMOND: Back at shortstop, Eslick has totaled 127 starts over the past three seasons in Buff and Blue. …. After transferring from Yale, Vinyard found a home in center field last season and handled 45 chances there without an error. … The versatile Maggie Greco was named to the A-10 All-Rookie team a year ago after posting a .294/.415/.441 slash line in 46 plate appearances. … Megan Osterhaus offers another veteran presence in the circle, and the senior from Burnsville, Minn., is coming off a season in which she went 2-0 with a career-best 2.17 ERA. … Look for senior Mia Parker to provide a spark with her pop – four of her nine career hits have gone for extra bases.