May 9, 2012

Box Score

Photo Gallery

ST. LOUIS - Fourth-seeded George Washington defeated fifth-seeded Charlotte, 9-2, in the opening round of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Conference Softball Championship at the Billiken Sports Complex in St. Louis.

With the win, George Washington improves to (23-28) on the season and advances to face top-seeded Massachusetts (35-11) tomorrow at 1:00 PM CT. Charlotte drops to (28-25) and will face the non-advancing team from the matchup between third-seeded Temple (27-20) and sixth-seed Saint Joseph's (20-27-1) tonight at 6:00 PM CT.

George Washington jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after tacking on three runs in the bottom of the third inning following a Julia Orlandi fielder's choice that saw two runs cross the plate followed by a perfectly executed squeeze play that brought home another run.

In the fourth inning, George Washington's Amanda Zakeri contributed an RBI groundout that pushed the Colonial lead to 4-0.

Charlotte added two runs of its own in the top of the fifth inning to cut the deficit to two, 4-2, following a Samantha Slade RBI single and Chelsea Stamey RBI groundout.

George Washington responded in the bottom half of the inning with RBI singles by Autumn Taylor and Sandi Monynihan, followed by a two-run single by Samantha Dos Santos. The Colonials would later tack on another run in the sixth en route to the victory.

Picking up the win for the Colonials was starter Heidi Penna (6-2), who pitched 4.1 innings while allowing only two runs on seven hits while striking out two. Kara Clauss got the save after pitching 2.2 scoreless innings of relief.

Play continues at the A-10 Softball Championship later today, as No. 3 Temple will take on No. 6 Saint Joseph's at 3:30PM. Live audio and video will be provided during the Championship to fans, free of charge, through the Atlantic 10 website - www.atlantic10.com.