Box Score April 2, 2011
Game 1 Final Stats | Game 2 Final Stats 
Photo Gallery
Bronx, N.Y. -
The Fordham softball team entered Saturday's doubleheader with Temple with a 20-13 overall record and a 3-1 Atlantic 10 mark, good for first place in the conference. At the close of play on Saturday, the Rams fell to 21-14 and 4-2. They are now in a tight race with several other teams.
Game one, which the Owls won 7-4, got off to a seemingly inauspicious start for the Rams. Fordham starter Chelsea Plimpton found herself in a bases loaded jam in the first as she walked two batters and gave up a single. With the bases loaded, Plimpton escaped trouble by striking out Ali Robinson and Rachel Knable. In the bottom of the frame, Jocelyn Dearborn, blasted a home run over the wall in right, and gave Fordham a 1-0 lead.
The Rams extended the lead to 4-0 in the third. Lindsey Kay Bright singled through the left side of the infield. Dearborn followed with an RBI double, but was gunned down, trying to stretch the hit to a triple. Later in the inning, Samantha Pellechio hit a two-out single to right field. Gabby Luety followed her with a fly ball to center that was dropped by Robinson. Pellechio scored on the play. The third run of the inning came on a Jamie LaBovick double that scored Luety. Both Luety's and Pellechio's runs were unearned.
Temple got a run back in the very next inning as Robinson made up for her error with a solo shot to center. The home run brought the score to 4-1 for the Rams.
In the sixth, Sarah Prezioso led off with a solo home run that ran Plimpton from the game. Jen Mineau came in with Fordham up 4-2 in the fifth. Stephanie Pasquale greeted her with a single. Knable later doubled to put runners on second and third. Meaghan Marley laced an RBI single to center scoring Daniele Raneri, who ran for Pasquale. On the base hit, pinch runner, Kate Roth, tried to score the tying run from second, but was thrown out at home on a strong throw from Bright and a great tag from Meghan Shager. Fordham didn't score in its half of the sixth and took a 4-3 lead into the seventh.
In the Owls' final at-bat, Prezioso hit a two-out, two-run home run to give Temple a 5-4 lead. Later in the inning, Robinson connected on her second home run of the game, also a two-run homer, and the Owls won 7-4.
Dearborn, Pellechio and LaBovick had two hits apiece for the Rams. Mineau fell to 9-6 on the season, as she took the loss in relief. Dearborn hit her eighth round-tripper of the season.
Game Two:
Fordham sought a measure of redemption in the rubber game, after letting the first game slip away in the final at-bat, and they went on to earn the split with a 6-4 win. Once again, the offensive juggernaut fore the team was Dearborn.
In what has become familiar fashion of late, Dearborn led off with a solo homer to give the Rams a 1-0 lead. Fordham made it 2-0 when Luety ripped a double to left-center that scored Nicole Callahan, who had walked. Luety came in when Beckak Wiggins laced a double of her own to right-center and Fordham led 3-0 after an inning.
Temple roughed up Fordham starter, Mineau, as the Owls plated four runs in the second. Pasquale led off with a double to right-center. Three batters later, she came in on an RBI single from Devynne Nelons. Later in the inning, Temple took a 4-3 lead when Christina Sykora blasted a three-run home run over the wall in left.
Fordham capped the scoring in the game in the fourth inning by pushing three runs across. Jessica Crowley led off with a double. Chelsea Palumbo followed with a two-run homer to left-center, giving the Rams a 5-4 lead. Later in the inning, Luety drove in Dearborn, who had reached on an infield hit.
The Rams went on to win 6-4 and earn a split with Temple. Mineau picked up her tenth win of the season in this one. Plimpton, who relieved Mineau in the fifth, recorded her second save of the season. Dearborn hit her tenth home run, while Palumbo connected on her second.
Fordham returns to action on Sunday, April 3, as they welcome the Saint Joseph's Hawks to Bahoshy Field for a pair of Atlantic 10 conference games. The doubleheader gets underway at noon.
