FAIRFAX, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore softball team won game two of their midweek doubleheader on Wednesday (April 27) against the George Mason University Patriots to split a pair of games versus their Atlantic 10 opponent. Eastern Shore fell 8-7 in game one and won game two 5-3.
In game one, the Hawks (16-30) had an offensive burst early as each of the first four batters got a hit. Those hits led to runs by sophomores Tatum Kresley, Kelsie Ekstrom and Julia Garcia. Freshman McKenzie Abiley then hit an RBI groundout to score graduate student Nasya Goodman. The team would be ahead 4-0 after one inning of play.
The strong offense would continue in the second inning as Garcia delivered a double through the left side to bring sophomore Ah-Nayia Oglesby across home plate to score. Goodman followed that with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Ekstrom and put the squad up 6-0.
George Mason would erase that lead by the end of the third inning. They got one in the second and five in the third, highlighted by an inside the park grand slam by Sydney Bales. The score was tied at six after three innings of play.
Both teams hit an offensive lull in the fourth and fifth innings. The two squads combined for just one hit in those frames as the game remained tied headed into the sixth. The Patriots broke the tie in the sixth with two runs to take an 8-6 advantage.
Eastern Shore would not go quietly in the seventh. After a fly out began the frame, Garcia hit her sixth homer of the season to left field to cut the lead in half. Two batters later, sophomore Ryan Merriwether hit an infield single to put the tying run on base. However, she would not advance any further as George Mason held on for an 8-7 victory.
Garcia went 3-4 with a home run, double, two RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored. Goodman threw her ninth complete game of the season inside the circle and was 1-3 with a double, a run and three RBI at the plate. Oglesby had two hits with a stolen base and a run scored in game one.
The second game of the day began much like the first. The Shore scored three runs in the first inning. The first came from an RBI double by Ekstrom to score Kresley. Ekstrom scored off an error by the Patriots later in the frame and Merriwether hit a sacrifice fly to score Goodman for the third run.
GMU got two runs in the bottom of the first to make the score 3-2. The game would stay at that score until the bottom of the sixth when the Patriots would tie the score on a sacrifice fly.
In the final inning of the day, Ekstrom singled and Garcia drew a walk to get runners on first and second. Freshman Nola Mountain then came in to pinch hit and got a groundout to shortstop to advance the runners.
Junior Tyanna Roberts stepped into the batter's box after that and laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt down the first base line to score Ekstrom. Freshman McKenzie Abiley then hit a double to left center to bring Garcia home and make the score 5-3.
Goodman came in as a relief pitcher to start the seventh. Sophomore Ameenah Ballenger threw the first six frames of the contest and struck out three batters. The Patriots managed to get two aboard, but a diving catch by Oglesby in right field ended the game and secured the win for the Hawks.
Roberts and Ekstrom each had two hits and an RBI in the game. Both of Roberts' hits were doubles and Ekstrom also scored two runs.
Maryland Eastern Shore will now host Norfolk State this weekend (April 30-May 1) for their final series of the regular season. The Hawks are locked into four seed for the MEAC Tournament and will look to play spoiler as NSU is tied for first place with Morgan State.
