Photo GalleryBronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team hosted St. Bonaventure for a two-game Atlantic 10 doubleheader at Bahoshy Field on Wednesday afternoon and the two games did not lack for offense, lead changes, and thrilling final innings.
Amy Van Hoven and
Allie Bradian each earned Fordham a victory with walk-off home runs, both the first round-trippers of their respective careers, to give the Rams the two-game sweep. Fordham took game one, 5-4, in nine innings and game two, 7-6, in eight innings. The Rams improve to 24-15 (7-1) on the season, while the Bonnies fall to 5-21 (2-6) overall.
"So proud of our team for stepping up big time. Total team effort today," head coach
Bridget Orchard said after the game, "Huge hits by Amy [Van Hoven] and Allie [Bradian] and a great job by everyone else to get on base and set it up. [Lauren] Quense and Lindsay [Mayer] worked hard on the mound to keep us in it and the bats came around."
Lindsay Mayer was the winning pitcher in both contests, coming on in relief of
Lauren Quense in both instances, and moves to 3-0 overall. Quense hurled a career high-matching eight innings in game one with nine strikeouts and just two runs allowed and four innings in game two.
Unlike what was to come in the final 13 innings of the day, the first four innings of game one were scoreless. The closest either team got was when Fordham's
Jessica Hughes slapped a two-out single to center field in the third inning, stole her league-leading 23
rd base of the year, but was gunned out at home plate by the center fielder Emily Belfield trying to score on a Van Hoven single.
The Bonnies got on the board first when Morgan Phillips and Katie Sinclair started the fifth with two singles. Alissa Karjel sacrificed the duo over and after Quense got a big swinging strikeout, Emily McDonough slid a base hit through the left side to score both Brittany Fai rand Haley Majot, both pinch running for their teammates. The Rams answered in the sixth with a leadoff Hughes no-doubter to right centerfield, her second home run of the season, and a Mayer RBI single to right center to score
Sydney Canessa.
Both pitchers, Quense and St. Bonaventure's Josie Borysevicz, worked in and out of trouble, allowing runners to reach scoring position, but kept the score the same until the ninth inning. Mayer replaced Quense in the circle but walked her first batter, Sinclair, on four pitches. Karjel bunted Sinclair over before Kelly Farrell fouled out to new third baseman
Madison Shaw. With two outs, McDonough dropped in a single to shallow left field to score Sinclair and the fourth run crossed when Hughes misplayed a ground ball. The Bonnies led, 4-2, heading into the bottom of the frame.
Borysevicz set down
Ally Vergona and
Chelsea Skrepenak on a fly out and foul out, respectively, before
Morgan Figueroa slipped a single through the right side that Hailey Blencowe nearly snagged on the run. Borysevicz pitched around Hughes and put the potential game-tying home run at the plate in
Amy Van Hoven. The junior delivered. Van Hoven ripped her first career home run to deep right field, briefly interrupting the Fordham football team's spring practice, and set off a mass celebration in the stands and at home plate.
Hughes was 2-2 from the leadoff spot with a RBI, two runs, two walks, and a stolen base.
Lindsay Mayer got the win on the mound and had a perfect 3-for-3 game at the plate with a RBI and a walk. Borysevicz drew the unfortunate loss and falls to 1-10 on the season with nearly nine full innings pitched and five earned runs allowed. Quense tied career highs with innings and strikeouts, eight and nine, respectively, and allowed six runs and two walks.
Quense started in the circle again for game two but wasn't as effective the second go around. Blencowe kicked the game off with a one-out solo shot to right field in the first inning, but reigning Atlantic 10 Co-Rookie of the Week
Jessica Hughes smacked her second home run of the day the opposite way to left center to knot the score at one. Fordham took its first lead not involving a walk-off hit when Figueroa tripled down the left field line to score Skrepenak, who had bunt singled and stole second base to get herself in scoring position.
The third inning provided five hits and dramatics but just two runs by the visitors. Farrell singled through the right side, McDonough reached on a bunt single, and Blencowe also reached on a sacrifice attempt when Shaw tried to throw out the lead runner at third. The first run scored on the fourth straight hit that didn't go past the pitcher's circle. Kelli Rohan's dribbler slowly in between home and the mound allowed all runners to advance. Quense induced a 3-2-4 double play on the next batter but Desiree Gonzalez walked on four pitched to re-load the bases. Phillips' single through the right side gave the Bonnies a temporary 3-2 lead.
Van Hoven kept the clutch hits going with a leadoff triple to right center and scored on Mayer's fourth single of the day, 3-3. Quense served the lead back up to the Bonnies when Karjel smacked her second home run of the season to right to start the fourth. Mayer replaced the junior in the fifth and both pitchers, Mayer and Carly Bilchak, traded two 1-2-3 innings.
Mayer started the sixth with yet another single, her fifth of the day, and Shaw walked. After Quense popped up,
Stephanie Ferri pinch hit for Skrepenak and reached on a fielding error by the right fielder that allowed Mayer to score from second but Shaw was thrown out at the plate trying to advance. The Bonnies looked to have gotten the go-ahead run across late in the seventh inning with a Belfield RBI single to center with runners on second and third but the Rams rallied with their last licks. Van Hoven drilled a one-out double over the head of Belfield to give the hosts a chance but Bilchak induced a Canessa fly ball to get the visitors within an out of their third conference victory.
Mayer, 5-for-6 up to this point on the day, drove Van Hoven home with the drifting single out of the reach of Gonzalez down the right field line and the game was tied up at five apiece. Bilchak worked out of further trouble but the fans in attendance received free softball for the second time today.
Mayer allowed a single to the leadoff hitter, Phillips, to start the eighth, and Sinclair sacrificed her over. A batter later and the Bonnies were back up by one after a Karjel RBI double. Mayer struck out Farrell swinging and induced a fly out by McDonough to end the threat.
Roughly five hours since the opening pitch of game one, the Rams walked off yet again.
Chelsea Skrepenak reached on a fielding error by Farrell and raced to second. It wouldn't matter which base she stood at because senior
Allie Bradian launched a no-doubt game-winning home run into the left field netting high above the turf for her first career home run and Fordham's seventh straight win. Make it two straight series sweeps for the three-time defending champions.
Mayer received her second win of the day with four innings of two-run ball with five hits allowed, no walks, and two strikeouts. Bilchak fell to 4-6 on the year with a complete game loss, five earned runs allowed, and two punchouts.
Lindsay Mayer finished the day 6-for-7 at the plate with three big RBIs. Van Hoven finished her day 4-for-9 at the dish with three RBIs and three runs.
The Rams embark on a four-game road swing over the next week with a three-game set in Washington, D.C. at George Washington this weekend and a road contest at Seton Hall next Wednesday. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 12 p.m.
