Kingston, R.I. – The Fordham softball team began a new winning streak on Saturday with its doubleheader sweep at Rhode Island. The Rams won two shortened contests, 12-1 in five innings in game one and 13-4 in six innings in game two, to improve to 31-16 on the year and 14-2 in Atlantic 10 play. The host Rams fall to 12-24, 3-11 overall.
The game one victory gave head coach
Bridget Orchard her 14
th straight season with 30 or more wins.
The Rams were patient on offense, drawing eight walks in each contest, and effective when they made contact, tallying 20 hits in 11 innings.
Madison Shaw's second inning solo shot to right center wound up being the game-winning run in game one. Fordham got on the board first through a
Sydney Canessa sacrifice fly.
Jessica Hughes, recently
named a Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year finalist, walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a poor throw by catcher Ali Summers. The swipe was Hughes' 28
th of the year and moved her into a tie with teammate
Amy Van Hoven for eighth-most all-time in school history. Fordham loaded the bases on two walks and a hit by pitch against Rhode Island's Becca Rogers, but the freshman pitcher induced a foul out from
Allie Bradian to get out of the jam.
Summers atoned for her throwing error in the top half of the frame with a leadoff solo home run to tie the score at one apiece but it was the only run that
Lauren Quense and
Lindsay Mayer would allow. Shaw's home run broke the brief deadlock before Canessa drove in
Morgan Figueroa with a hard-hit single to center to push the lead to two. The two starters exchanged scoreless third frames before Fordham's offense blew the game wide open.
In the fourth, Figueroa singled up the middle and stole second to lead off the frame. Hughes picked up her second walk of three in the game and Van Hoven drove in Figueroa to make it 4-1. Canessa's second sacrifice fly of the contest and a Mayer RBI groundout made it 6-1. The two sacrifice flies tie Canessa with
Rachel Gillen's mark set almost a full year ago (4/25/15) for the most in a single game in the last 16 years.
The Rams doubled their scoring output in the fifth on five hits and three walks.
Ally Vergona and Bradian walked to start the inning, Shaw dropped in a single in left center that saw
Maria Trivelpiece, running for Vergona, thrown out at third, before Figueroa loaded the bases with another single, this one to opposite field. Hughes' third walk brought in the frame's first run before
Amy Van Hoven cleared the bases with a seeing-eye single. Canessa smacked a RBI double to left and Mayer drove her home with an opposite-field double of her own to complete the scoring.
Quense pitched four innings and allowed just the sole home run, one of three hits, and one walk, while striking out seven strikeouts.
Lindsay Mayer worked around a single in the fifth to finish the game.
The Rams got on the board quickly in game two, as well, with Hughes drawing another game-opening walk, stealing second, and eventually coming around to score on a fielding error by the shortstop. The theft was Hughes' second of the day but, more importantly, tied Lindsey Kay Bright's single season school record of 29 set in 2009, while subsequently leapfrogging Van Hoven for eighth-most all-time.
Figueroa reached on a fielding error and Hughes walked to set up two on with one out. Van Hoven roped a double to left center to score the former but Andrea Chiaradio worked out of the jam for the final two outs. Madi Shaw gave the visitors a three-run lead with a towering solo home run to dead center, her seventh of the season, for the lone run in the third inning.
Madison Shaw homered twice on Saturday against Rhode Island.
Fordham added four runs in the fourth and two in the fifth. In the fourth, Figueroa singled up the middle, Hughes walked for the sixth time between the two games, and Canessa singled to load the bases. Mayer hit into a fielder's choice that scored Figueroa and Hughes came home on a throwing error. After
Chelsea Skrepenak walked,
Ally Vergona smoked a ball that hit off the top of the left center field fence and dropped back into play, scoring both runners. After a pitching chance, Madi Shaw walked and stole her sixth bag of the year but the two Rams were left stranded. In the fifth, Hughes used her speed to beat out a throw to first that briefly pulled the first baseman off and then became the only Fordham player in school history to steal 30 bases in one season a few pitches later when she took second. On the next pitch,
Sydney Canessa pulled a ball way over the left field fence for a two-run home run, her team-leading ninth of the season.
Mayer replaced Quense in the circle for the fifth inning and induced two quick outs before walking Emily Hendricks and hitting Ali Summers to allow Paige Julich to deposit a ball over the fence and extend the game with a three-run home run, 9-4. Quense allowed just one run on one hit in her four innings. The junior was perfect through her first three innings.
The Rams offense picked Mayer up with a four-spot in the next inning.
Ally Vergona's RBI single scored Skrepenak with no one out. Shaw flied out and
Cailin Winokur grounded out with
Maria Trivelpiece, running for Vergona, advancing to third on the two plays. The freshman scored when
Morgan Figueroa beat out an infield single to put the Rams up seven, 11-4. The sophomore stole second, her second theft of the year, and sprinted home on, incredibly,
Jessica Hughes' first hit of the day, a liner to right. The hit put the Rams again in position to end the game early but they weren't done scoring. Hughes stole her third base of the contest and 31
st of the year, moving into a tie for seventh-most all-time with Erin Fisher, and tying a program record for stolen bases in a game.
Amy Van Hoven's hard-hit ball caused an error by the first baseman and allowed Hughes to score, 13-4.
Jessica Hughes went 1-for-3 on the day but walked six times, with a trio of free passes in each contest, stole four stolen bases and scored seven times on the day. It's the first two instances of a player walking three times in a game this year. The school record is four.
Sydney Canessa drove in six runs on the day, batting 4-for-7 with a double, a home run, and two runs scored.
Amy Van Hoven drove in five and batted 4-for-8 overall.
Morgan Figueroa collected four hits in six at bats with six runs scored. Shaw batted 3-for-6 with two home runs and three runs scored.
Lauren Quense picked up the wins in both games and moves to 14-7 on the year. In total, the junior allowed just four hits and two earned runs in eight innings with nine punchouts.
The two Rams battle again tomorrow in game three at 12 p.m.
