NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – George Washington won its second straight Atlantic 10 softball regular season, finishing with a 21-3 (.875) record in league play and will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming 2022 A-10 Softball Championship. The double-elimination tournament begins Wednesday at the George Mason Softball Complex.
The Colonials finished at 33-13 overall and have seven players batting .300 or better, led by Alessandra Ponce at .372. Alexa Williams leads the team with 10 homers and 46 RBI and Sierra Lange leads GW from the circle with a 2.28 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 187.1 innings pitched. George Washington receives a first-round bye and will open against the winner of No. 4 Saint Louis and No. 5 Dayton on Thursday.
Second-seeded Fordham also earned a first-round bye. The Rams are 15-8 (.652) in league play and 27-20 overall. Fordham is led by Bailey Enoch at the plate with a .304 average and Rachel Hubertus, who recorded 16 home runs and a team-high 39 RBI. Emilee Watkins and Makenzie McGrath lead the Rams pitching, with 2.25 and 2.29 ERAs, respectively. Fordham will face the winner between No. 3 Saint Joseph's and No. 6 Massachusetts on Thursday.
Third-seeded SJU, which finished at 14-8 (.636) in league play and 22-21 overall, will begin play in the championship at 2:30 pm Wednesday against sixth-seeded UMass. The Hawks are led by Jordan Hinkle's .346 average and Madison Fife's 29 RBI and seven home runs. The Minutewomen, which were 12-12 (.500) in the A-10 and 19-30, overall earned the sixth seed via a head-to-head tiebreaker with George Mason, which was also 12-12. UMass is led by Bella Pantoja's .301 batting average. The winner of the SJU-UM game will play No. 2 Fordham Thursday at 2:30 pm.
No. 4 Saint Louis was 13-10 (.565) in league play and 21-27 overall. The Billikens are led by Gabbie Kowalik's .371 average, eight home runs and 30 RBI, and Chloe Wendling's 2.90 ERA with 120 strikeouts. SLU will open the championship at noon ET Wednesday No. 5 Dayton, which finished the regular season at 12-10 (.545) in the A-10 and 19-22 overall. UD is paced by Emma Schutter's .419 average and Kelsey Gumm's 2.05 ERA with 103 strikeouts in 105.2 innings pitched. The Billikens / Flyers winner will advance to face top-seeded GW at noon on Thursday.
The winners of the two Thursday games will advance to meet in the semifinal, which will be played Friday at noon. The losing teams from the each round will play in the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament. The consolation bracket winner will face winner's bracket finalist in the A-10 Championship game Saturday at noon.
Tickets to the championship are available through the George Mason ticket office. All games of the A-10 Softball Championship will be aired on ESPN+. For watch links, results, photos and more, visit Softball Championship Central at atlantic10.com.