Box Score April 23, 2011
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Bronx, N.Y. -
In a doubleheader scheduled for the day between Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, two Catholic Schools, the Marianist run, Dayton University, and the Jesuit institution of Fordham waited out nearly a five and a half hour rain delay to get in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 23. Neither team wanted to play on Good Friday or Easter Sunday, but eventually both games were completed, as the Rams won the opener 4-1 and Dayton took the nightcap, 3-1.
Game one was originally scheduled for noon, then 2:00 P.M., then 3:00 P.M. and eventually the first pitch was thrown at 5:24 P.M. The Rams celebrated Senior Day during the delay and honored the five seniors on the roster, Jocelyn Dearborn, Samantha Pellechio, Chelsea Plimpton, Meghan Shager and Beckah Wiggins. The girls and their families were given flowers in a pre-game ceremony.
Prior to the Senior Day festivities, there was a special ceremony in left field with the entire team and the parents of former Rams pitcher Nicole Ayres. Ayres was a former Fordham softball player who lost her life back in September. For the ceremony, Father John Denniston, a member of the Theology Department at Fordham, spoke to the team and to the Ayres family about Nicole. As a tribute, the girls all wore black armbands with the initials N.A. on them.
On what was a special day for the Rams, it was Dayton who drew first blood as Lauren Nacke, the second batter of the game, ripped a home run off of Fordham starter, Jen Mineau, to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
The Rams countered in their half of the first by scoring twice. Dearborn led off with a double into the right field corner. The next batter, Jamie LaBovick, struck out, but reached first on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Chelsea Palumbo ripped a hard grounder off the third baseman's glove that scored Dearborn and LaBovick to give Fordham a 2-1 lead.
The score remained there until the bottom of the fourth. In the fourth, Shager led off with a solo home run over the wall in right to give Fordham a 3-1 edge. The Rams got an insurance run in the fifth as Shager came up with Wiggins and Jessica Crowley on base. She singled to center and drove in Wiggins, but Crowley was thrown out at home trying to score.
The Rams took a 4-1 lead into the seventh and Mineau retired the Flyers in order to give Fordham the win. Mineau went the distance to improve to 15-7. She gave up one run on three hits and struck out 16.
Game Two
The second game saw Fordham get out to an inauspicious start as they had two runners on base in the first inning, but failed to score. Wiggins grounded out with runners on second and third and two outs.
Dayton jumped out to the early lead in the second inning as Courtney Kutsulis led off with a walk. She stole second and scored on an RBI single to center by Carlyn Harlow. An inning later, the Flyers made the score 3-0 by scoring twice more. They loaded the bases on two singles and an error and Brandy Brown singled through the right side of the infield scoring two runners.
The score stayed 3-0 until the bottom of the fifth. In the fifth, Shager reached on a one-out walk. Dearborn singled to advance her to third, and Shager scored on an RBI single from LaBovick. The Rams were within 3-1 and, if not for a sparkling defensive play in the top of the sixth, the deficit could have been larger.
Nacke, who homered off of Mineau in the first game, ripped a Plimpton to deep right field. Palumbo went back to the wall, leapt over the wall, made the catch, rocked on the top of the fence, and came back into play, making a spectacular catch and taking a home run away from Nacke.
Fordham didn't challenge again and Dayton won 3-1. Plimpton fell to 15-10, as she threw the complete-game. She gave up three runs on five hits and struck out six.
With the split, Fordham now owns a 31-17 overall record, including a 12-4 conference mark. The Rams return to action on Tuesday, April 26, when they host the Iona Gaels at Bahoshy Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 P.M.
