March 23, 2010

Game Notes vs. St. Peter's

BRONX, N.Y. - Coming off a successful 4-1 weekend at the James Madison Tournament, the Fordham softball team is back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Jersey City, N.J. to face one of their longest rivals, the Saint Peter's Peahens. First pitch between the Rams and the Peahens is slated for 3 p.m. on Jaroschak Field.
Fordham fans can follow the action from the field on Fordham softball's new Twitter Page: @FordhamSoftball.

Fordham is 19-6 after another successful weekend, with two victories over James Madison, 7-0 and 16-2, a win over Winthrop, 2-1 and splitting with Pitt. The Rams defeated the Panthers 5-1 to open the tournament then lost 4-3 in 10-innings on Saturday. The Rams also swept Seton Hall in last week's Wednesday doubleheader, 8-0, 3-0.
The Peahens are 1-9 so far this season with a victory over Florida A&M on March 14. St. Peter's is coming off a 4-1 loss to Brown on March 19.

Fordham's loss to Pittsburgh on March 20 broke up Fordham's five-game winning streak.
Fordham and Saint Peter's have had one of the longest series in the Rams' 26-year history. The Rams and Peahens have played each other 36 times since Fordham's first year of the program, 1985.

SCOUTING THE PEAHENS

• Saint Peter's is 1-9 so far this season with the Peahen's only win coming over Florida A&M on March 14. All of the Peahens' games so far have been played at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissammee, Fla.
• In the final game of the Rebel Games for St. Peter's, the Peahens lost 4-1 to Brown. Saint Peter's also played Green Bay, Florida A&M, Cleveland State, UT-Martin, Hartford, Army, Columbia, Colgate and Brown.
• Danielle Cuglietto leads the team in batting average with .286. Cuglietto has played in just seven of the 10 games and started five. Of the consistent starters Samantha Bennett leads the Peahens with an average of .831.
• In the Peahen's lone victory, Nicole Schnecker earned the victory, pitching six innings and allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out three. Samantha Bennett went 2-3 with an RBI, while Danielle Cuglietto went 1-2 with an RBI sac fly. The Peahens had to come from behind to get the victory.
• Schnecker and Shelby Beaver have been the Saint Peter's mainstays in the circle. Beaver is 0-5, Schnecker is 1-4. Schnecker has had 20 strikeouts and Beaver has had 15.

 

RAMS VS. PEAHENS - THE SERIES

• The Rams and Peahens have met 38 times over the course of 26 years. Fordham holds the advantage with a 20-15-1 record over the Saint Peter's. In the Bridget Orchard Era, the Rams have only lost three times in 15 meetings. In 2002, Fordham lost 5-1 in the very first meeting. Fordham has also lost once in 2003 and once in 2005. Since then, the Rams have won the last six meetings, including a five-inning perfect game on March 10 thrown by Jen Mineau.

• Fordham is 9-1 at home and 2-2 in Jersey City. At the Peahens and Rams' only neutral meeting, Fordham bested Saint Peter's 2-1 at the Spring Rebel Games.

WHEN LAST THEY MET

• Fordham and Saint Peter's last met on March 10, 2009 at Bahoshy Field in Bronx, N.Y. The teams played a doubleheader to open the home season for the Rams.
• In the first game, Fordham defeated Saint Peter's, 6-4. In game two, Fordham defeated the Peahens, 9-0, as Jen Mineau recorded a perfect game, Fordham's second-ever. Mineau struck out 12 batters in the doubleheader sweep. In the second game, Mineau struck out the side three times, in the first, third and fifth innings.

LAST TIME OUT

• Fordham won four of five games at the James Madison Dukes/Days Inn Invitational. Highlighting the weekend was Jen Mineau breaking the single season strikeout record against Winthrop on Saturday in the Rams' 2-1 victory. 
• The Rams defeated Pittsburgh, James Madison and Winthrop in the tournament held in Harrisonburg, Va., but lost in the second game to Pittsburgh, 4-3 in 10-innings. The loss was the only extra inning loss of the Rams' season-so far. Previously, the Rams were 3-0 in extra-inning games.
• Fordham left Virginia with a 16-2 blowout over James Madison in the second meeting between the teams. Of the 16 runs, only four were earned.

RAMS RECEIVING VOTES

• For the fourth-straight week, Fordham received votes in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll. In the most recent poll, released March 22, the Rams received14 votes, tripling its vote count from last week. In the March 2 poll, Fordham received its first vote of the season, and first in-season vote in Fordham history. The Rams are just three spots out of the Top 25 with San Diego State and Texas Tech ahead of them. The Washington Huskies remain at No. 1. The Huskies have now held the No. 1 spot for seven consecutive editions of the poll.
• Fordham is also receiving votes in both the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 and Ultimate College Softball Poll. The Rams received three votes in the USA Softball Poll and 26 in the UCS.

RALLY ON TWO - LIKE WE ALWAYS DO

• Over the weekend, Fordham scored 18 RBI with two outs on the board. Rookie Chelsea Palumbo was responsible for five, senior Erin Fisher four. For the season, 44 RBI have been recorded with the final out threatening.

FISHIN' FOR HOMERS

• Senior Erin Fisher leads the team with seven home runs. Fisher has knocked out of the park two-run homer in back-to-back games against Mercer (March 14) and the first game of the Seton Hall doubleheader (March 17).

A PERFECT STEAL

• Four Fordham rams are perfect in stolen base attempts this season. Sophomore Lindsey Kay Bright leads the way with 9-for-9. Senior Erin Fisher is 8-for-8, while junior Jocelyn Dearborn is 6-for-6 and classmate Beckah Wiggins is 5-for-5.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Six Fordham starters are hitting .284 and over for a combined 136 hits, 68 RBI, 76 runs, 13 homeruns and an average batting average .303.

PLIMPTON SHUTS OUT SETON HALL

• Junior Chelsea Plimpton (3-2) got her second win of the season and first complete game shutout with a 3-0 victory over Seton Hall on Wednesday. Plimpton's three-hit victory was her third career shutout with Fordham. The junior also tallied eight strikeouts, a season-best performance thus far.

RED-HOT ROOKIES

• Jamie LaBovick registered her first A-10 honor on March 1 after connecting for two home runs and four RBI at the Palm Springs Classic. She sealed the Rams' 4-0 victory over #19/24 Texas A&M with a two-run home run, and later had a two-run homer in Fordham's shutout win over UNLV to be named A-10 Rookie of the Week. LaBovick made two pitching appearances as well, with her best performance coming against #13/14 California, where she threw 2.1 innings of one-hit relief.
• Chelsea Palumbo earned her first honor at A-10 Rookie of the Week on March 22. In seven games last week, Palumbo had the second highest batting average on the team (.353) and a .588 slugging percentage. As shortstop, she assisted seven outs and had four of her own. The three RBI against Pitt was a season-best for the rookie and her six RBI run in seven games was her best offensive performance this year.

ON DECK

• Up next, Fordham will begin play in the Atlantic 10 as they travel to Dayoton, Ohio to play against the Dayton Flyers in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader on March 28. The games are slated to begin at Noon.