Box Score May 7, 2009
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
Bronx, N.Y. - The good news for the Fordham softball squad was that they managed to collect four hits and score one run off of Massachusetts pitcher Brandice Balschmiter, the 2009 Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, while Fordham hurler Chelsea Plimpton allowed just six hits for the Rams. The bad news was that three of the Minutewomen's six hits were home runs as Massachusetts tied a championship record en route to a 5-1 win over the Rams in the second day of play at the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship on Fordham's Bahoshy Field.
Action will resume tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. when Fordham, the fourth seed, faces fifth-seeded Saint Joseph's in the loser's bracket at followed by Massachusetts and Charlotte at 1:00 p.m. in the winner's bracket. The third game on Friday will feature the winner of the first game against the loser of Thursday's Charlotte/Saint Louis game.
Massachusetts, the tournament's top seed, tied a championship record with three home runs, accomplishing the feat for the third time, the first since 2005 when they did it twice. Penn State was the first Atlantic 10 team to hit three home runs in a championship game, doing so against Temple in 1988.
Sarah Reeves and Samantha Salato got the Minutewomen on the board in the second, leading off the inning with back-to-back home runs. It was tenth home run of the year for Reeves and the 16th for Salato.
Carly Normandin made it a 3-0 game for Massachusetts when she led off the third with a solo shot, her tenth of the year.
The Minutewomen extended the lead to 4-0 with an unearned run in the fifth as Davina Hernandez led off reaching on an error and moved to second on a walk to Normandin. A Whitney Williams fielder's choice moved Hernandez to third where she would score later in the inning on a Reeves single.
The Rams picked up a run in the top of the sixth when Meghan Shager reached on a one-out single but she was erased on a Melissa Andrews fielder's choice. Andrews stole second and, after a walk to Lindsey Kay Bright, Mary Beth Puccio delivered Andrews with a single to left.
After a more than four-hour rain delay, Massachusetts regained a four-run lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI double from Hernandez.
Brandice Balschmiter, the 2009 Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year, threw a complete game, four-hitter, striking out five, to go to 29-4 on the year as Massachusetts improves to 36-8.
Beckah Wiggins collected two of the four hits for the Rams, who fall to 37-21 on the year. Plimpton was the hard-luck loser for Fordham, allowing six hits and three earned runs in six innings to fall to 12-4 on the year.
