Softball Shuts Down Eagles in Doubleheader Sweep

By Connect Mason Sports Director Damien Sordelett

With pitching ace Becky Anderson getting some rest for the upcoming weekend series with James Madison, the George Mason softball team was looking for some pitchers to step up and get some wins against North Carolina Central.

Two shutouts later, the women were feeling much better about the staff behind Anderson.

Paige Miller and Whitney Bullins both threw complete game shutouts and Ashli Breau hit her 11th home run of the season to propel George Mason (19-26) past North Carolina Central (3-42) 8-0 and 12-0 in doubleheader action at George Mason Field Wednesday afternoon.

“Paige and Whitney both came through with exactly what we needed today: they both threw complete games, kept North Carolina Central off-balance all day with their change-ups and kept the ball down," said George Mason coach Joe Verbanic. "It allowed us to rest our pitching staff and give those kids an opportunity to get some innings."

Miller (2-1) got the call in the first game and was tested early. The Eagles had the bases loaded with only one out, but Miller calmly struck out the next two batters to end the threat.

After that, it was smooth sailing as the junior scattered five hits in six innings of work while striking out six.

“I was able to keep the ball down and the only ones that got up were the ones they got hits on," said Miller. "For the most part, I was able to keep it down and they weren’t able to put enough together to get any runs.”

The second game was much of the same, as Bullins handcuffed the Eagles from the very beginning. The sophomore allowed just two hits through five innings of work, allowing Mason to finish 6-0 in weekday series.

While the pitching took care of the Eagles, the offense was more than able to attack N.C. Central starter Kri Schooler (2-24), who pitched both games for the visiting Eagles.

Breau sent a third-inning Schooler pitch over the fence in right-center to give Mason a 3-0 lead in the first game. From there, the Patriots would slowly build their lead, including a four spot in the following frame.

That momentum would carry over to the second game. Already up 1-0, the Patriots would send 11 batters to the plate in the second inning and put eight runs on the board, capitalized by Kara Weiner's bases-clearing triple.

“We just came out and jumped on them early and we did really well hitting today," said Breau, a sophomore first baseman. "We were picking the right pitches to hit.”

While the offense picked up the slack, the pitching has turned the season around. In the past 11 games, Mason has only given up more than one run on just four occasions, going 9-2 in the stretch.

“This game is built around pitching. When you can go out and make pitches, you can keep your team in a ball game. That’s what they did for us today until we finally broke open and scored some runs," said Verbanic. "That’s what we’ve been doing over the last 11 games, we’ve been going out there, making good pitches and letting our defense help us out and that makes it easy on the offense, you don’t have to generate a lot to get over the top and that has helped us a lot.”