Thursday, May 12
Fairfax, VA
12 PM
George Washington University
vs
Saint Louis
Softball Aims for Repeat A-10 Title
5/11/2022 1:37:00 PM | Softball
Buff & Blue open tourney run on Thursday
Seeking a repeat title and return to the NCAA Tournament, top-seeded GW softball opens its run at the Atlantic 10 Championship on Thursday, facing No. 4 Saint Louis in a noon start at George Mason.
The winner advances to a Friday semifinal to play for a spot in Saturday's final, while the loser will face an elimination game at the double-elimination tournament.
By virtue of winning the conference regular season title with a 21-3 mark, the Buff and Blue earned a first-day bye as part of the six-team bracket.
LAST TIME OUT:Â GW closed out the regular season last weekend with a sweep at UMass to improve its A-10 road record to 12-0.
Sierra Lange was simply electric in the circle, allowing just one hit across 15 innings in a pair of shutouts. The graduate student was named A-10 Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time this spring after tossing an eight-inning one-hitter in Saturday's opener and her second career no-hitter in Sunday's finale. She struck out 16 in the series.
Maddie Spell had a big weekend at the plate with five hits, including her first two-homer performance in the middle game. The Suwanee, Ga., native cracked her first career grand slam and also added a solo shot in an 11-1 victory.
Alessandra Ponce knocked in the only run in the opener with an eighth-inning double and finished the weekend with five hits and four RBIs.
The Buff and Blue totaled 11 extra-base hits on the weekend, nine of them doubles.
A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP MEMORIES:Â GW has performed well on the conference championship stage in recent years, highlighted by its first outright title victory last spring.
A year ago, the Buff and Blue had to battle back after dropping their opener but were able to complete their march to history with four wins over three days, including back-to-back wins over Dayton in the final.
Lange was named the tournament'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.
Ponce, Sidney Bloomfield, Jenna Cone and Amber Lotz were also honored on the All-Championship Team in recognition of their outstanding play on the road to a title.
In 2019, GW won its first three games at the A-10 Championship as the No. 3 seed and then shared the title with Fordham after the final was rained out.
This is the Buff and Blue's fourth straight conference championship appearance and seventh overall. They are 12-12 all-time at the tournament with eight of those wins coming in the past three trips.
RECORD HARDWARE HAUL:Â GW had its tremendous regular season run rewarded on Tuesday with a record collection of A-10 awards.
Five Colonials landed on the All-Conference First Team to surpass the program's previous high of four, set last season. Alexa Williams claimed A-10 Player of the Year honors after leading the conference in RBIs and slugging percentage during the regular season, while Lange was named Pitcher of the Year for the second straight season in recognition of her 24 wins and 2.28 ERA in 187 1/3 innings with 185 strikeouts.
Ponce joined Cone on the list of program greats to be named All-Conference four times, and Hannah Eslick (shortstop) and Maddie Spell (designated player) also were voted onto the First Team.
After leading the Buff and Blue to their second straight A-10 regular season title in her first season at the helm, Head Coach Chrissy Schoonmaker was tabbed the conference's Coach of the Year.
Entering the A-10 Championship, the graduate student from Plano, Texas, owns every major program pitching record, including wins (91), strikeouts (747) and shutouts (17), and also ranks in the program's all-time top 10 offensively in hits (237, tied for second), runs (163, fourth), RBIs (125, fourth), doubles (42, tied for fifth), triples (14, second), homers (19, tied for seventh) and steals (54, fifth).
Lange closed the regular season on a career-best 12-game hitting streak, a run in which she slashed .500/.588/.750 with 14 runs, 10 RBIs and six extra-base hits. The three-time All A-10 First Team selection is the first repeat Pitcher of the Year winner since Sara Plourde of UMass won three straight from 2010-12.
COMING UP CLUTCH: Williams has driven in 46 runs in 43 games this season and sits 25th nationally at 1.07 RBIs per game. The sophomore from El Cajon, Calif., has gotten there thanks to 13 multi-RBI performances, boosted by some of the most memorable swings of the season. She cracked grand slams vs. Saint Joseph's (3/16) and Rhode Island (4/23) and secured the A-10 regular season title with a walk-off, three-run homer vs. Saint Louis on April 30.
After driving in 41 runs during her All-Conference rookie season, Williams has 87 RBIs in 91 career contests. She has 39 extra-base hits in that span with 22 doubles, two triples and 15 homers.
NO DOUBLE TROUBLE:Â GW ranks fourth nationally at 1.83 doubles per game with 84 two-baggers in 46 games. The Buff and Blue have particularly piled up the doubles vs. conference foes with 49 across the 24 games.
Eslick and Ponce are tied for the conference lead with 16 doubles apiece, and Lange (12), Mia Parker (12) and Williams (10) are also in double digits.
Ponce became the program's all-time leader in doubles on April 30 and now has 58 for her career, good for 12th among active D-I student-athletes.
DYNAMITEÂ DEFENSE:Â GW played error-free defense last weekend to boost its team fielding percentage to .979, best in the A-10 and good for eighth in the nation.Â
The Buff and Blue have totaled just 25 errors through 46 games, and they've been at their best in A-10 action, committing just nine defensive miscues over the 24 contests while making a number of highlight-reel plays.
VS. THE FIELD:Â GW went a combined 13-2 vs. the other five teams who qualified for the championship, including sweeps of No. 2 Fordham and No. 3 Saint Joseph's in the same week back in March.
The Buff and Blue outscored their opponents 65-24 in those games while hitting .287 with 26 doubles and 14 homers, while the pitching staff, led by Lange, was impeccable, posting a 1.09 ERA with a .205 opponents' batting average.
Looking at Thursday's matchup, GW won two of three vs. Saint Louis in its Senior Weekend series on the Mount Vernon Campus on April 30-May 1. The Buff and Blue locked up the conference regular season crown with a Saturday sweep before the Billikens took the series finale.Â
The winner advances to a Friday semifinal to play for a spot in Saturday's final, while the loser will face an elimination game at the double-elimination tournament.
By virtue of winning the conference regular season title with a 21-3 mark, the Buff and Blue earned a first-day bye as part of the six-team bracket.
LAST TIME OUT:Â GW closed out the regular season last weekend with a sweep at UMass to improve its A-10 road record to 12-0.
Sierra Lange was simply electric in the circle, allowing just one hit across 15 innings in a pair of shutouts. The graduate student was named A-10 Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time this spring after tossing an eight-inning one-hitter in Saturday's opener and her second career no-hitter in Sunday's finale. She struck out 16 in the series.
Maddie Spell had a big weekend at the plate with five hits, including her first two-homer performance in the middle game. The Suwanee, Ga., native cracked her first career grand slam and also added a solo shot in an 11-1 victory.
Alessandra Ponce knocked in the only run in the opener with an eighth-inning double and finished the weekend with five hits and four RBIs.
The Buff and Blue totaled 11 extra-base hits on the weekend, nine of them doubles.
A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP MEMORIES:Â GW has performed well on the conference championship stage in recent years, highlighted by its first outright title victory last spring.
A year ago, the Buff and Blue had to battle back after dropping their opener but were able to complete their march to history with four wins over three days, including back-to-back wins over Dayton in the final.
Lange was named the tournament'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.
Ponce, Sidney Bloomfield, Jenna Cone and Amber Lotz were also honored on the All-Championship Team in recognition of their outstanding play on the road to a title.
In 2019, GW won its first three games at the A-10 Championship as the No. 3 seed and then shared the title with Fordham after the final was rained out.
This is the Buff and Blue's fourth straight conference championship appearance and seventh overall. They are 12-12 all-time at the tournament with eight of those wins coming in the past three trips.
RECORD HARDWARE HAUL:Â GW had its tremendous regular season run rewarded on Tuesday with a record collection of A-10 awards.
Five Colonials landed on the All-Conference First Team to surpass the program's previous high of four, set last season. Alexa Williams claimed A-10 Player of the Year honors after leading the conference in RBIs and slugging percentage during the regular season, while Lange was named Pitcher of the Year for the second straight season in recognition of her 24 wins and 2.28 ERA in 187 1/3 innings with 185 strikeouts.
Ponce joined Cone on the list of program greats to be named All-Conference four times, and Hannah Eslick (shortstop) and Maddie Spell (designated player) also were voted onto the First Team.
After leading the Buff and Blue to their second straight A-10 regular season title in her first season at the helm, Head Coach Chrissy Schoonmaker was tabbed the conference's Coach of the Year.
QUITE A CAREER: Coming down the final stretch of a decorated collegiate career, Sierra Lange's place among the all-time greats in GW Athletics history is secure.Hear from @CSchoony11, @_alessandra_011, @mags_greco13 and @Alexa_W22 ahead of the A-10 Championship!#RaiseHigh | #Together pic.twitter.com/rGmOmsdSZt
— GW Softball (@GW_Softball) May 11, 2022
Entering the A-10 Championship, the graduate student from Plano, Texas, owns every major program pitching record, including wins (91), strikeouts (747) and shutouts (17), and also ranks in the program's all-time top 10 offensively in hits (237, tied for second), runs (163, fourth), RBIs (125, fourth), doubles (42, tied for fifth), triples (14, second), homers (19, tied for seventh) and steals (54, fifth).
Lange closed the regular season on a career-best 12-game hitting streak, a run in which she slashed .500/.588/.750 with 14 runs, 10 RBIs and six extra-base hits. The three-time All A-10 First Team selection is the first repeat Pitcher of the Year winner since Sara Plourde of UMass won three straight from 2010-12.
COMING UP CLUTCH: Williams has driven in 46 runs in 43 games this season and sits 25th nationally at 1.07 RBIs per game. The sophomore from El Cajon, Calif., has gotten there thanks to 13 multi-RBI performances, boosted by some of the most memorable swings of the season. She cracked grand slams vs. Saint Joseph's (3/16) and Rhode Island (4/23) and secured the A-10 regular season title with a walk-off, three-run homer vs. Saint Louis on April 30.
After driving in 41 runs during her All-Conference rookie season, Williams has 87 RBIs in 91 career contests. She has 39 extra-base hits in that span with 22 doubles, two triples and 15 homers.
NO DOUBLE TROUBLE:Â GW ranks fourth nationally at 1.83 doubles per game with 84 two-baggers in 46 games. The Buff and Blue have particularly piled up the doubles vs. conference foes with 49 across the 24 games.
Eslick and Ponce are tied for the conference lead with 16 doubles apiece, and Lange (12), Mia Parker (12) and Williams (10) are also in double digits.
Ponce became the program's all-time leader in doubles on April 30 and now has 58 for her career, good for 12th among active D-I student-athletes.
DYNAMITEÂ DEFENSE:Â GW played error-free defense last weekend to boost its team fielding percentage to .979, best in the A-10 and good for eighth in the nation.Â
The Buff and Blue have totaled just 25 errors through 46 games, and they've been at their best in A-10 action, committing just nine defensive miscues over the 24 contests while making a number of highlight-reel plays.
VS. THE FIELD:Â GW went a combined 13-2 vs. the other five teams who qualified for the championship, including sweeps of No. 2 Fordham and No. 3 Saint Joseph's in the same week back in March.
The Buff and Blue outscored their opponents 65-24 in those games while hitting .287 with 26 doubles and 14 homers, while the pitching staff, led by Lange, was impeccable, posting a 1.09 ERA with a .205 opponents' batting average.
Looking at Thursday's matchup, GW won two of three vs. Saint Louis in its Senior Weekend series on the Mount Vernon Campus on April 30-May 1. The Buff and Blue locked up the conference regular season crown with a Saturday sweep before the Billikens took the series finale.Â
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