Softball Makes It Eight Straight With Doubleheader Sweep

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

Towson, Md. – The Fordham softball team notched its seventh and eighth wins in a row, both shortened, against Towson and Mount St. Mary's on Friday as part of the Towson Tiger Classic. With the victories, the Rams moves back above .500 to 14-13, while Towson moves to 18-5 and Mount St. Mary's falls to 2-18 overall.
 
Game One
The Rams overcame an early 3-1 deficit against Towson and rattled off nine unanswered runs over four innings to claim a six-inning 12-3 win over the hosting Tigers. Lindsay Mayer's two-run third-inning home run proved to be the game winner.
 
Fordham got on the board in game one after Jessica Hughes led off the game with a walk, her co-team-leading 11^th of the season. Reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week singled to center to push the freshman over to second base and the reigning A-10 Co-Rookie of the Week impressively scored on a Sydney Canessa groundout to the catcher.
 
Hughes again sparked the offense in the third when she singled and advanced to second on a throw to third that gunned Morgan Figueroa out, and later scored on a Van Hoven single to center. Two batters later and Mayer deposited her second round-tripper over the outfield wall for the 4-3 lead.
 
Hughes, up with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth, singled in Maria Trivelpiece, running for Lauren Quense, to extend the lead to two, before Van Hoven's two-run single pushed the lead to 7-3. Canessa's bunt attempt resulted in a RBI single a batter later and Van Hoven scored a play later after a throwing error trying to throw Canessa out at second on an attempted steal.  Another error on a Rachel Gillen effort extended the inning and Madison Shaw got the Rams to double digits with a RBI single to right, giving her team a 10-3 advantage.
 
Fordham forced the shortened game in the sixth with a two-spot in the sixth inning, with Gillen singling home Canessa after the latter doubled to open up the frame, and Chelsea Skrepenak getting the Rams above the eight-run threshold with a two-out RBI single.
 
Quense started the game and allowed two earned runs in two innings with three walks and a pair of strikeouts before Gillen replaced the junior in the third and earned her ninth victory of the season with four innings of two-hit ball. Gillen is now 9-8 on the season.
 
Game Two
Fordham played the home team against the Mountaineers of Mount St. Mary's in the mid-afternoon match-up. The Rams raced out to a 3-0 lead and later erased a 5-3 deficit with 10 unanswered runs to give the team its 15^th victory in five innings. Quense started and earned her sixth win of the season.
 
Jessica Hughes singled to start off the first inning and promptly stole second and third. Van Hoven reached on a fielder's choice and stole second to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Canessa's RBI single gave the Rams a 1-0 lead and the junior gave the Rams their fourth steal of the frame a pitch later. Mayer walked to load the bases, Gillen singled in a run to right field, and Maddie Shaw's deep foul out scored a third to give the "home" side a 3-0 advantage after one.
 
Mount St. Mary's mounted a four-run rally the next half-inning featuring two two-run home runs although Quense struck out two batters. A sac fly in the third gave the visitors a 5-3 lead.
 
An error by the Mount shortstop allowed Mayer to score in the bottom of the inning and Ally Vergona drove in two runs a batter later with a single to right, with Shaw scoring from first base. A batter later and Skrepenak ripped her first career home run to give Fordham an 8-5 lead.
 
Canessa roped a triple to right field, scoring Van Hoven after the sophomore led off with a single, Mayer walked, and Gillen doubled in Canessa before Shaw reached on an error by the second baseman to score Mayer. Skrepenak added to her RBI total with a sac fly later in the inning, scoring Gillen, to give the Rams a 12-5 advantage.
 
Mayer replaced Quense in the fifth and promptly struck out the side and in the bottom of the frame the Rams walked off on a wild pitch with nobody out. Van Hoven, hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a Canessa single, and scored a few pitches later.
 
The Rams play two again tomorrow, first at 9 a.m. against Towson and again 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one, against Mount St. Mary's.
 
SCHEDULING NOTE: All Sunday contests of the Towson Tiger Classic have been cancelled, including the Rams' match against Villanova.