July 1, 2010
NFCA Release
Bronx, N.Y. -
The Fordham softball coaching staff has been named the 2010 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Mid-Atlantic Region Staff of the Year, the Association announced on Wednesday.
Fordham, under the direction of 2010 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
Bridget Orchard along with assistants
Emily Friedman,
Bob Baxter and
Mike Forsythe, went 49-12 in 2010 and earned its first ever trip to the NCAA tournament, setting seven school single-season records along the way, including the most wins (49). The Rams placed second in the Atlantic 10 in both the regular season and the tournament and earned an at-large bid to compete in the College Park Regional. The Rams defeated Maryland twice en route to the regional title game, where they ultimately fell to then No. 11 Oklahoma. The first win over the Terps was the first-ever NCAA postseason victory for a women's program in Fordham history and the first NCAA postseason victory since 2002, when the football team defeated Northeastern in the Division I-AA playoffs.
At the Atlantic 10 Championship, Fordham entered as the second seed, making their eighth straight appearance in the postseason conference tournament. 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.
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). The 1.34 team ERA was tops in the NCAA while the Rams' .980 fielding percentage was third best. 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 ninth overall. 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 squad to the NCAAs.
Individually, the 2010 Fordham roster broke 12 single-season records and eight single-game records. Pitcher and catcher tandem of Jen Mineau and Meghan Shager set two career records, Mineau for her 1.39 ERA and Shager with a perfect 1.000 stolen base percentage. Shager is also seventh in the NCAA's single-season put out record book with 638.
The 2010 Rams were also 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 as well as an ESPN.com All-American -- all firsts 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 received 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 for conference awards, Fordham nearly swept the yearly accolades with head 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, LaBovick Rookie of the Year and Mineau Student-Athlete 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.
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.
