June 4, 2010
2010 Softball Accomplishments (PDF) 
BRONX, N.Y. - It was a season to remember and one to use as a jump off point for future successes for the Fordham Softball program as the 2010 squad surpassed many milestones, topped by their first ever selection to the NCAA Tournament with two wins in the Regional against host school Maryland, their first-ever 40-win season, an appearance in the Atlantic 10 Championship Final, numerous postseason individual awards and many Fordham records broken.
On Sunday, May 16, a day after making a run at the Atlantic 10 Championship title, the Fordham softball team sat in Dagger John's at the Rose Hill campus to hear their named called in the NCAA field of 64 as they were selected as an At-Large bid to the College Park Regional, set to face the overall No. 14-seed, Oklahoma, Maryland and Syracuse. On Friday, May 21, the Rams defeated Maryland, 2-1, becoming the first-ever women's program in Fordham history to win an NCAA postseason game and the first NCAA postseason victory since 2002, when the football team defeated Northeastern in the Division I-AA playoffs. After a one-run loss to Oklahoma on Saturday, Fordham made it to the Regional Finals with another victory over the Terps, this time by three runs, 5-2. Oklahoma defeated Fordham in the final, 2-0, ending the Rams' postseason run.
A week earlier, Fordham was also the No. 2 seed at the Atlantic 10 Championships, making their eighth-straight appearance in the postseason conference tournament with a first round bye. In the Rams' opening game against Charlotte, sophomore pitcher Jen Mineau pitched a perfect game, the A-10's first-ever in a postseason conference Championship. The Rams defeated UMass the following day, in a 7-5 victory, the Rams' first over the Minutewomen in their nine previous meeting in A-10 tournament play. The Minutewomen won their way into the Championship final and came back to defeat Fordham, twice on Championship Saturday for the automatic berth to the NCAAs. The Rams hadn't been to the conference final since 2006.
On their way to the NCAA Regional Final and Atlantic 10 Championships, the Rams set new team records for wins (49), strikeouts (636) complete game shutouts (25), ERA (1.34), slugging percentage (.452), home runs (60) and fielding percentage (.980). In addition, the Rams had a 21-game win streak to end the regular season into the Atlantic 10 conference tournament, which was the third longest in the NCAA for 2010. Fordham shut out six-straight opponents from April 20-May 5, breaking the previous record of four. During the six-game shutout streak, the Rams held opponents scoreless for 48 innings, breaking the old record of 26 (1995).
The 49 wins by Fordham this year are the most for any Catholic school in the nation and tied for sixth overall (through games of May 31st). The Rams can also lay claim to being the most successful softball program among all NCAA Division I private schools in 2010. Fordham and Notre Dame are the only two Catholic school softball teams that advanced to an NCAA Division I Regional finals game this spring while Fordham and Creighton are the only Jesuit schools that sent a softball team to the NCAAs.
Fordham consistently received votes in the national top 25 polls (USA Today/ESPN.com) all season long and even cracked the newest top 25, the Ultimate College Softball poll on April 27 at No. 24 and moved up a spot on the May 11th version of the poll. The Rams recorded three wins over ranked opponents, with the highest being No. 8/11 Georgia Tech. They also defeated No. 19/25 Texas A&M and No. 21/23 Massachusetts. Fordham ended the regular season with an RPI rating of 30, the highest rating the softball program has ever received. The 2010 Fordham Rams helped the softball program to its 500th win.
Individually, the 2010 Fordham roster broke 12 single-season records and eight single-game records. Pitcher and catcher team of Mineau and
Meghan Shager have set two career records so far with ERA for Mineau (1.39) and stolen base percentage for Shager (1.000). Shager is also seventh in the NCAA's single-season put out record book with 638.
As far as postseason awards, the 2010 Rams were recognized on both the conference level and national level as Mineau was named one of the 10 Finalists for USA Softball's Player of the Year and was selected a First Team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Both honors were a first for the Fordham softball program.
Nationally, five Fordham players were named to the Louisville Slugger®/NFCA Division I All-Mid-Atlantic list as Mineau, senior
Erin Fisher, juniors
Jocelyn Dearborn and
Beckah Wiggins and rookie
Jamie LaBovick were named to the First Team. The five selections were the most Fordham has ever gotten in a single season. Mineau, Fisher, Wiggins were also members of the ECAC All-Star first team award list, and Dearborn was voted onto the Second Team. Fisher, Wiggins and Mineau were also credited for their academics as well as their athleticism as they were selected as First Team members of the
ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District I squad.
As far as conference awards go, Fordham nearly swept the yearly accolades with head coach
Bridget Orchard receiving her third Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honor and first ECAC Coach of the Year award. Wiggins was named the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year and LaBovick Rookie of the Year. Wiggins, along with Mineau, Fisher and Dearborn were named to the Atlantic 10 First Team, LaBovick earned a spot on both the All-Rookie and All-Atlantic 10 Second Team and junior shortstop
Samantha Pellechio earned All-Conference honorable mention. Mineau was also named the Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year and was the lone Ram placed on the Academic All-Conference Team. As the 2010 A-10 Tournament runners up, Fisher, Mineau, LaBovick and Pellechio were all named to the All-Championship squad.
"The team has worked so hard and it paid off this season as they had an amazing season putting Fordham University and Fordham softball on the National map," said Orchard, after completing her ninth season at the helm of the Fordham softball program. "I'm happy that we were able to reward the school for their commitment and support of our program over the years. I couldn't be more proud of the team this year for everything that they achieved both on and off the field."
The Rams said farewell to Fisher, the squad's lone senior. Fisher finished her four-year career as the Rams' single-season home run record holder (16) and all-time RBI leader (148). She also tied the record for career home runs (35). Fisher finished second all-time in walks (99) and games played (226). In her final year with Fordham, Fisher was second in slugging percentage (.678), total bases (122) and third in RBI (53) and stolen base percentage (.941). At Fordham's annual awards dinner, Fisher was named the Terence O'Donnell Award for sportsmanship and dedication.
Statistically, the pitching staff of Mineau and junior
Chelsea Plimpton were a force in the circle helping Fordham to a team ERA of 1.34, which as of June 2 was the NCAA's national statistical leader. Mineau (34-9) broke all eight single-season pitching records: appearances (50), games started (42), complete games (30), wins (34), innings pitched (282.1), strikeouts (503), shutouts (15) and ERA (1.04). Mineau pitched three no-hitters with two perfect games against Charlotte (May 13) and Morehead State (Feb. 20). The perfect game vs. Morehead State was Fordham's first-ever seven inning perfect game. Fordham's softball MVP, Mineau was awarded Co-Female Athlete of the Year the Rams' annual awards dinner and ended her sophomore season five strikeouts away from Fordham's all-time record. Plimpton went 11-2 and helped secure six shutout wins for Fordham, with 100 strikeouts for the season.
It was Fordham's offense that came through in a pinch as Wiggins set the single-season record for RBI with 60, two shy of breaking the Atlantic 10's single-season mark. Wiggins earned national attention when she broke/helped break Fordham's single-game records of RBI (9), hits (5) and team hits (25) in Fordham's 21-1 victory over St. Peter's (March 24). Wiggins then went on to break the single-season home run record with three at Dayton (March 28). Wiggins recorded eight RBI with her three homers including a six-inning, two-out grand slam. She had 18 multi-hit games and 15 multi-RBI games. Wiggins, along with Fisher and Dearborn combined for 153 RBI and 40 of Fordham's 60 homers. Wiggins hit two grand slams in a week, against St. Peter's (March 24) and Dayton (March 28), helping her to a week total of 20 RBI and national spotlight as one of Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd. Fisher hit a grand slam the following week against Manhattan (April 6), giving the senior 11 homers. She is the only senior in Fordham history to tally more than 10 home runs in a season.
A new face in the line up, LaBovick led the Rams in batting with a .342 average, while Dearborn, a seasoned vet and Fordham's lead off batter and starting third baseman led Fordham in runs (49), hits (69), triples (3), total bases (125) and doubles (14). Dearborn's 125 bases were a new Fordham single-season record and her 14-for-14 perfect stolen base percentage was also a single-season best. Dearborn has amassed 43 doubles in her three year career, two away from the all-time record.
After a six-week injury, Pellechio returned to the line up and took her place as the team's fifth-best batter with a season average of .292 with 18 runs, 35 hits, eight doubles, four homers and 18 RBI. Shager had the fifth-best RBI total with 23 off her 48 hits. Shager, Fordham's No. 1 catcher, started every game behind the plate and had just one error in 61 games. She had 32 assists and she threw out 21-of-37 stolen base attempts.
