Newport News, Va. – Fordham softball standout underclassmen
Madie Aughinbaugh and
Paige Rauch have each taken home one Atlantic 10 weekly award thus far this season, albeit in different weeks, but today the league office announced that the duo have earned conference Pitcher of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors for a second time in helping Fordham to a 4-1 record over the past seven days.
The Rams fell in eight innings to Lehigh last Wednesday but rebounded with a shutout of visiting Binghamton and a three-game sweep of George Mason over the weekend.
Aughinbaugh was solid at the plate, driving in six runs and launching a pair of home runs, but was earned top pitcher recognition for her work in the circle. The sophomore struggled in her lone relief appearance for the week, allowing four runs over three frames in the middle innings against Lehigh but rebounded nicely with two straight complete games. Aughinbaugh started the next day against the Bearcats and allowed just three singles and no walks while punching out six in a dominant display of an eventual 4-0 win, her fourth shutout of the year. The Port Tobacco, Md. Native followed that up with seven full innings in the series opener against the Patriots, limiting the visitors to two unearned runs on five hits and one walk, while striking out one.
For the week, Aughinbaugh tallied a 1.84 ERA over 19.0 frames, allowing eight runs, five earned, on 18 hits and three walks, while striking out 13, picking up two wins in the process. For the season, Aughinbaugh is up to a 10-6 record and a 3.07 ERA while tossing the second-most innings in the A-10 thus far, 105.0. In 16 starts, she has eight complete games and four shutouts. She is also one of four players to appear in all 36 games, making 35 starts.
Rauch continues to excel, as well, at the plate and in the circle. The freshman reached base at least once in all five contests, scoring a team-high seven runs and driving in six, adding three home runs over two straight games, including her first multi-homer effort. Against Lehigh, she reached three times, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice. In the win over Binghamton, Rauch went 1-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base, a hit by pitch, and a run scored. Despite not tallying a hit in the series opener against George Mason, she still walked and came around to score. The Windsor, N.Y. native made her lone hit in game two of Saturday's doubleheader count, kicking off the team's seven-run fifth inning with a three-run blast to dead center. Rauch followed that up with an impressive two-way performance in the series finale, going 2-for-3 with a pair of solo home runs plus a walk. She also notched the win with a near-perfect four frames of relief, allowing just a hit and a walk while striking out four. Rauch made two starts, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits and two walks against Lehigh but recorded her first career shutout of the Patriots in game two with just two hits, both singles, and two walks allowed, while striking out a season-high six batters.
For the season, Rauch is second on the team with a .308 batting average and a .444 on-base percentage and leads the squad with a .664 slugging percentage. She paces the team with nine home runs and 29 RBIs, leads the league with 25 walks, and is second in the A-10 with 37 runs scored. She is just one of four players to appear in all 36 contests, as well, and is one of three to start them all, too. In the circle, Rauch has an 8-1 record over 15 appearances, nine starts, with six complete games, one save, and a 1.64 ERA, which is just behind Dayton's Manda Cash for lowest in the league.
The Rams are at Iona later today, which can be seen live on ESPN3, and travel to Rhode Island to continue conference play this weekend.
