Box Score April 6, 2010
Box Score - Game 1 | Box Score - Game 2 | Photo Gallery 
| 04/06/10 - Manhattan Highlights 
BRONX, N.Y. - The Fordham softball offense came out to play on Tuesday as the Rams tallied 14 runs to the Manhattan Jaspers' three, off three homeruns, including a grandslam and two doubles. Fordham defeated Manhattan 7-0 in the first game and 7-3 in the second game as the Rams defeated the Jaspers' in a cross-town non-conference rivalry game.
With the wins, Fordham advances to 28-8 overall on the season. Manhattan falls to 8-10.
Junior transfer Chelsea Plimpton (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville South High School (St. John's)) had a career day and earned the win for Fordham in the first game. Plimpton struck out 11 batters through seven innings in the circle, a season and career best for the junior. The 11 K's bested her previous career effort against Wagner on April 28, 2009. With the win, Plimpton is 6-2 in the circle.
Senior centerfielder Erin Fisher (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville), the cleanup hitter, tallied her 11th homerun of the season with a grandslam in the bottom of the fourth in the first game against the Jaspers. Fisher becomes the only senior in Fordham history to tally 11 homers in a season. The grandslam is the third hit by a Ram this season. She is only the third Ram ever to hit over 10 homeruns in a single season.
Fordham 7, Manhattan 0
Fordham got a run early in the first inning as Fisher singled down the third base line for an RBI single, scoring fellow Washingtonian, sophomore Lindsey Kay Bright (Federal Way, Wash./Decatur) . In the second inning, junior Meghan Shager (Conklin, N.Y./Susquehanna Valley) hit a ground rule double to right center to score sophomore Jessica Richards (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Mission Viejo). Richards had reached first on a throwing error by the Jaspers' shortstop, she ran to scoring position as the ball rolled past first base. Shager tallied a run when rookie Jamie LaBovick (Peoria, Ariz./Sunrise Mountain) hit a long ball to right field for a sac fly, giving the Rams a 3-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Plimpton came back from a 3-0 count to strike out junior Melissa Donnelly, whose checked swing went too far across the plate on the full count. With two outs and junior Kristina Walraven after her leadoff ground rule double, the Rams got out of the inning as Jaci Rahey popped out to Richards in right field, keeping the Jaspers with no runs.
In the bottom of the fourth, Fisher hit the one-out grandslam. On Fisher's hit over the right center fence, junior Jocelyn Dearborn (New Milford, Pa./Blue Ridge), Bright and LaBovick scored, and the Rams went up 7-0.
The seven runs through four innings would be the it for the Rams, as only Dearborn registered a hit with the Jaspers' new pitcher, Erika Sullivan.
Plimpton only allowed one hit in the seven-inning complete game, the ground rule double in the top of the fourth. She struck out 11 in 23 batters faced, with just one hit and one walk.
Fordham 7, Manhattan 3
The second game started similar to the first, this time starting with sophomore pitcher Jen Mineau (Schaghticoke, N.Y./Hoosic Valley Central) at the circle. Mineau pitched three innings, striking out six batters and adding one more to her striking out the side tally, which is now at 27. LaBovick came in to finish the game, as she pitched four innings for the win (3-1) with two strikeouts and allowed three earned runs, all in the final inning of play.
The Rams jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning as Richards's single scored junior shortstop Samantha Pellechio (Lebanon, N.J./North Hunterdon), who got on base with a walk. Pellechio actually scored on a fielding error by the Jaspers' secondbaseman, which allowed Richards to earn an extra base and rookie Jamie Pollak (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) to reach third base. Shager singled on the next at bat to allow Pollak to score, with runners left on the corners. Dearborn came up to the plate with a homer over the centerfield fence to score three RBI and the Rams scored five runs in the second inning.
Fordham wouldn't score again until the bottom of the fifth inning, as once again the Rams' tallied runs with just one out left in the inning. With two outs on the first two batters, Pollak hit a single up the middle to start the rally. Rookie Katherine VanBenschoten (Cranford, N.J./Cranford), who came in to pinch hit for Richards, hit a walk-off homer over the high left field fence for her first career homerun. VanBenshoten's homer gave Fordham the 7-0 lead through the five innings of play.
With one two defensive innings left, the Rams shut down the Jaspers, one-two-three in the sixth, but the seventh inning was a different story. With one out on the board, Manhattan started a rally with a single down the left field line from Ashley Rampino. Kaitlin Rodriguez pinch hit for Monica Evangelista, and got a walk off LaBovick. LaBovick struck out the next batter, Jen Keller, who went down swinging for two outs on the Jaspers. Amanda Babcock doubled, sending in two runs, for the first Manhattan runs of the doubleheader. The Jaspers' pitcher, Melissa Donnelly, who came in in the fourth inning, hit a single up the middle to score Babcock, and the Jaspers threatened with another run. Leadoff batter Kristina Walraven flied out to left field and the ballgame ended in Fordham's favor.
For the doubleheader, Dearborn hit 4-for-7 for a .571 average, scoring two runs including her homerun in the bottom of the second inning of game two. Fisher tallied five RBI off five hits and LaBovick and Pollack each went 3-for-6.
The Rams will be back in action and back to Atlantic 10 play at home on Friday, April 9 with a single game against Saint Louis at 5 p.m. Fordham will play Saint Louis again on Saturday, April 10 for a noon single game.
