Game #1 Box Score
Game #2 Box Score
FAIRFAX, Va. – The University of Hartford softball team dropped a pair of games at the George Mason Invitational on Saturday, first falling to Cornell by an 8-2 before suffering a 9-0 setback to the host team in game two. Hartford finishes play in the Invitational with two games on Sunday, starting with Cornell at 9:00 a.m. and wrapping up with George Mason at 11:15 a.m.
In the opening game, Hartford (1-5) held on to a 2-1 lead through six innings but allowed the Big Red to claim the victory after plating seven runs in the top of the seventh frame.
Cornell jumped out to a 1-0 lead in its first at-bats however Hartford was quick to reclaim that run in the bottom of the first frame. Sophomore Amber Andrews led off that stanza with a triple – the Hawks' first of the season – and turned the hot corner in the same play on an error by Cornell's third baseman.
Jordan Haines, a junior, would reach scoring position on a two-out double in that frame but she would remain stranded on second base as Cornell put down Hartford's next batter in the line-up. The Hawks would leave six runners on base in the outing.
The Hawks doubled their advantage to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth as first baseman Chelsey Mooney connected for a base hit to center field with one out and advanced to second when Jackie Kelly notched an infield single. Margaret Betz, who pinch ran for Mooney, then moved up 60 feet to third following a ground out off the bat of Erica Phelps and crossed home plate in the next at-bat on Shannon Simpkins' single to left field.
Hartford would hold on to that lead until the top of the seventh, a frame that saw Cornell plate seven runs to reclaim the lead for good. Lauren Bucolo drove in the first two runs of the inning on a double while the Big Red's third run was plated on a miscue in the outfield by the Hawks. Cornell tacked on four more runs when Erin Keene homered to right center with the bases loaded.
In the second game against the hosting Pioneers, the home team plated a single run in the bottom of the first and cushioned that lead with six more in the bottom of the second. In the fifth inning, the Pioneers added two more runs to the scoreboard to score the victory in five frames via mercy rule.
George Mason hurler Casey Herring held Hartford to just three hits in the outing as Andrews, Kate Wacyk and Mooney each reached base for the Hawks. Wacyk and Mooney each notched doubles for Hartford.
