Box Score May 21, 2011
Final Stats
University Park, Pa. -
After receiving a tweet from Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson congratulating them on their win over Penn State, the Rams faced Oregon on Saturday in the winner's bracket game. The game began in an all-too-familiar fashion as the pitchers, Jessica Moore for the Ducks and Jen Mineau for the Rams, dominated play early, but in the end the Ducks prevailed 2-0, forcing Fordham to play a second game on Saturday against the winner of Albany and Penn State.
In a game where any mistake could be costly, it was Fordham who faltered early. With one out in the second, Kaitlin Vitek ripped a grounder in the hole that got by Jocelyn Dearborn and was misplayed by Samantha Pellechio for an error. Mineau recovered and got Alexa Peterson to foul out to Gabby Luety and struck out Samantha Pappas to retire the side.
The Rams answered at the plate in their half of the second. With one out, Beckah Wiggins hit a ground ball to short and legged out an infield single. With Luety at bat, Wiggins stole second, but advanced no further as both Luety and Chelsea Palumbo struck out and Fordham left a runner in scoring position.
The game was still scoreless when Fordham came to bat in the fourth inning. With one out, Pellechio reached on an errant throw by Kelsey Chambers. Jamie LaBovick hit into a fielder's choice, eliminating Pellechio, and Wiggins struck out to end the inning.
In the top of the fifth, Alexa Peterson singled through the hole to right field. Two batters later, Kailee Cuico took the Mineau offering down the line for a two-run-home run to left. The Ducks took a 2-0 lead and Mineau's consecutive scoreless inning streak ended after 81.2 innings.
Oregon got to Mineau again in the sixth, with two outs Kaylan Howard blasted a ball off the wall in right center. The carom eluded Palumbo and Howard ended up at third base with a sliding triple. Mineau escaped trouble by striking out Monique Fuiava to retire the side.
The Rams couldn't pick up another hit as the Ducks prevailed 2-0. Fordham collected a lone, infield single from Wiggins and nothing else. Jen Mineau threw six innings and got tagged with the loss. Chelsea Plimpton threw a scoreless inning of relief in the seventh.
With the loss, Fordham is forced to play a second game on Saturday at 7:30 P.M. against the winner of the Penn State, Albany game. The winner of that game will meet Oregon in the Regional Final on Sunday.
