GSU Softball Falls to George Mason in 13 Innings

The Georgia State softball team dropped a 13-inning marathon, 4-2, to George Mason on Senior Day in Panthersville, Sunday. The loss snapped a 15-game Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) winning streak and denied the team its fifth straight conference series sweep.

Despite the heroics of senior Lauren Jones, who smashed solo home runs in the fourth and sixth innings, the Panthers (32-19, 15-2 CAA) fell to the Patriots in large part due to their nine stranded runners in the extra frames. GSU left three runners on base in the 10th inning alone after loading the bases with just one out.

“A lot of runners on base in scoring position, we just couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it,” said GSU head coach Roger Kincaid. “That’s the frustrating part, because that’s what we’ve done most of the year during this [conference winning] streak.”

Jones’s two home runs put her at 12 for the season. Her sixth-inning shot off GMU reliever Miranda Cranford made it a 2-2 game and forced extra innings in her final regular-season game at Bob Heck Field.

“I wasn’t trying to hit them out, I was just trying to get base hits,” Jones said. The first baseman finished the day 2-of-3 with three walks, all of them during extra innings and two of them intentional.

GSU’s Alana Thomas (8-8), who entered the game in the top of the 13th, picked up the loss after she allowed two inherited runners from McCall Langford to score. The Patriots (16-25, 5-12 CAA) took the lead when Kaila Conlon hit a two-RBI single through the left side for the eventual winning runs.

“We definitely missed a lot of opportunities,” Jones added. “Our pitching and defense was great all game, we just couldn’t get it done.”

Kaitlyn Medlam started in the circle for the Panthers and struck out eight batters through seven innings before giving way to Langford in the eighth.

The Panthers took the first two games of the series on Saturday, 4-0 and 1-0, with Thomas and Langford throwing complete-game shutouts. Paige Nowacki ensured a series victory with her walk-off RBI single in Game 2, scoring Chelsea Sparks.

LOOKING AHEAD
Sunday’s loss does not change the fact that the Panthers can take the CAA regular-season title — and home-field advantage in the four-team conference tournament — with a series victory next weekend at Hofstra, which is now one game ahead of GSU in the standings after a sweep of UNC Wilmington. The three-game series will begin on Friday in Hempstead, N.Y., with a 3 p.m. doubleheader and caps off regular-season play.

“It’s frustrating to lose the game, but we still have our ultimate goal still reachable,” Kincaid said. “When we go to Hofstra this weekend, if we win two out of three, we’ll host the CAA Tournament. That’s been our goal since the beginning.”

The Panthers hosted the conference tournament in 2006,their first year in the CAA. Since the inception of the CAA softball tournament in 2002, Hofstra has hosted the other eight times and has eight overall tournament championships.

“We want to get the tournament down here where our people can see it, get it off of Long Island, change up the mojo that (Hofstra has) had hosting the CAA tournament, and bring it down here and try and win a championship,” Kincaid added.

The conference tournament will be held Thursday, May 12 through Saturday, May 14 and will determine the conference’s NCAA Tournament representative.

SENIORS HONORED
Three seniors, including Jones, left fielder Tiffany Bess and pitcher Heather Lowry Massetti (who did not play with the team this year after lettering in 2010) were recognized before Sunday’s game as part of the Senior Day festivities. Bess is a four-year letter winner and Jones a four-year starter. Their record so far at GSU as a senior class is 134-76, including 57-19 in the CAA, with four straight 30-win seasons.