May 20, 2010
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Fordham will make their first-ever appearance at the NCAA Championships this weekend as the Rams travel to College Park, Md., to face the No. 14 seed Oklahoma, Maryland and Syracuse in the 2010 NCAA Regionals, May 21-23 at Maryland's Robert E. Taylor Stadium.
Fordham will face off against the host team, the Maryland Terrapins at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Fordham-Maryland game will be preceded by the Oklahoma-Syracuse match up at 5 p.m.
Both Fordham (47-10) and Maryland (33-22) received at-large bids to the NCAAs, while Syracuse (32-24) won the BIG EAST Championships and Oklahoma (43-10) won the Big 12 to earn automatic bids.
The Rams are the No. 2 seed in the Regional. The Sooners are the top seed and the No. 14 seed in the overall bracket. The teams will play in a double-elimination tournament with the winners from Friday's games playing at noon on Saturday. The other games will follow at 2 p.m. with the loser's bracket and the loser from game three and the winner from game four facing off. Sunday's championship round will be at noon followed by a final game at 2 p.m. if necessary.
Fordham is coming off a tough doubleheader loss in the Championship finals of the Atlantic 10 Championships. Fordham lost 3-0 in the opening game and 8-3 to Massachusetts in the if necessary game in the Championship final. UMass had to win both over the Rams after Fordham sent them to the elimination round with a 7-5 semi-final victory.
Fordham's NCAA Championships Fast Facts
The Softball Rams are only the second ever women's team in school history to make an NCAA Championship. The last time was when the women's basketball team received an automatic bid in 1994 as the Patriot League Champions.
This is the second time the Atlantic 10 Conference has had two teams in the NCAA Championships. The last time was in 2004, with Massachusetts getting an at-large bid, while Temple received the automatic bid. Besides Temple in 2004, UMass has been the only school from the A-10 to represent the league at the NCAA Championship since 1994.
Fordham is 4-1 against BIG EAST opponents this season with victories over Seton Hall, Pittsburgh and St. John's. The Rams lost one game to Pitt with a 4-3 10-inning loss at the James Madison Tournament on March 20. The Rams are 1-0 over teams from the ACC in 2010 with a 2-1 eight-inning win over then No. 8/11 Georgia Tech at the Springhill Suites/Buckhead Classic in Atlanta, Ga., on March 13. Fordham is also 1-0 over Big 12 opponents as they defeated then No. 19/24 Texas A&M, 4-0, on Feb. 25 at the Palm Springs Classic in Cathedral City, Calif.
Against teams in the field of 64, Fordham is 7-6. Four of those losses were to University of Massachusetts, two in regular season play and two at the Atlantic 10 Championship final.
Fordham and Syracuse are two of the 10 teams making their debut appearance at the NCAAs.
Scouting the College Park Regional
Oklahoma is the most veteran team in the Region, making their 17th consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships. The Sooners won the Big 12 title and finished second overall in the conference standings. OU has a 15-7 record against the 2010 field of 64. For the fourth time in five years, Oklahoma was selected as one of the top 16 seeds in the country.
The Sooners are led at the plate by senior Amber Flores. She boasts a .371 batting average and a team-high 60 runs scored. Rookie catcher Jessica Shults leads the Sooners in RBI with 61. OU has a four-person pitching staff, led by Keilani Ricketts with a 28-8 record and 1.29 ERA. Ricketts has 297 strikeouts on the season and 78 walks. Batters bat a measely .150 against Ricketts.
Maryland is making their first trip to the NCAA Championships since 1999. The Terps are one of the five ACC schools that made the tournament. UMD lost in the first round of the ACC Championships to Florida State.
Junior Kerry Hickey leads the Terps in the circle backed by sophomore Kendra Knight. The pair have a combined ERA of 1.64, the leading duo in the ACC. Senior Alex Schultz led the Terps at the plate with a team-high .394. She averaged over .400 for most of the season and recently broke the 100-run mark. Schultz leads the team in RBI (36), hits (61), doubles (13) and home runs (8) and was named First Team All-ACC.
Syracuse earned an automatic bid to the field of 64 after defeating Villanova, DePaul (the favorite) and Louisville to claim the BIG EAST tournament title. The Orange were the No. 5 seed. Four teams including Syracuse were selected from the BIG EAST to compete for the NCAA Title.
The Orange are led by sophomore Lisaira Daniels with a .366 batting average. She leads the teams in hits with 64 and triples with four. Junior thirdbaseman Hallie Gibbs is the team's RBI-leader with 44. Well distributed in the hitting areas, rookie Veronica Grant leads the team in doubles (19) and runs (46). In the circle, Syracuse's three-person staff is lead by sophomore Jenna Caira. Caira has a 19-11 record, 2.21 ERA and 259 strikeouts to 82 walks.
At the Robert E. Taylor Stadium
In 2009, Fordham went 5-0 in College Park, playing in the Maryland Invitational from March 13-15. The Rams defeated Mount St. Mary's, Howard, Maryland, Seton Hall and Delaware in the tournament. Fordham run-ruled Mount St. Mary's and Delaware and outscored all five of their opponents 40-11.
Against Delaware, pitcher Jen Mineau pitched her second ever no-hitter in the 10-0, five-inning victory over the Blue Hens. Mineau has now recorded five no hitters and two perfect games.
The four teams will play a double-elimination tournament over the weekend, with the winner advancing to the Super Regionals. Action starts on Friday with games at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday's games will be played at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday's game will be at noon and if necessary, a second game will be played at 2 p.m. Teams playing in those games will be determined upon results of Friday's games.
Tickets for the weekend pass are $25 and $20 for students. Single day passes are $10 and $7 for students.
All fans are advised that the University of Maryland Commencement and Graduation ceremonies will be taking place Thursday evening and all day Friday in the Comcast Center, which is adjacent to Robert E. Taylor Stadium. Fans planning to attend Friday's games should prepare for heavy traffic and limited parking. Fans are encouraged to arrive early as parking will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis in all parking lots surrounding Taylor Stadium.
The Division I championship provides for a field of 64 teams. The championship will be extended to three weekends of competition. Four teams will participate at each of 16 regional sites in a double-elimination tournament. Sixteen teams were seeded and placed at one of the regional sites.
The regional winners will advance to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 28-30 at eight campus sites.
The remaining eight teams will advance to the WCWS, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament. The championship final will a best-of-three-series.
The WCWS will be conducted June 3-9 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
