Box Score May 21, 2011
Final Stats
University Park, Pa. -
On the day when the seniors at Rose Hill were walking across Edward's Parade to receive their degrees, it was the senior members of the softball team that completed their final game as the Rams fell to Penn State, 5-2 and were eliminated from the NCAA Regionals on Saturday, May 21 in University Park.
Chelsea Plimpton was the first of several Rams' seniors to contribute on commencement day. She pitched a scoreless first and helped Fordham take the lead in its half of the inning. Her classmate, Jocelyn Dearborn broke an 0-17 post-season slump with a line drive single up the middle. Nicole Callahan followed with an infield single and Fordham had two runners on base. Later in the inning, senior Beckah Wiggins, who was moved to cleanup due to her hot bat, scorched a triple off the top of the right-field wall, scoring Dearborn and Jessica Richards, who came in to run for Callahan. Jamie LaBovick grounded to short and Wiggins was gunned out at home. Gabby Luety, the next batter, ripped a line drive towards left and Lauren Rossi made a great diving stab, robbing her of a hit. The Rams led 2-0 after an inning.
The Nittany Lions answered in the top of the second. Kasie Hatfield led off with a single through the hole to left. On the very next pitch, Alyssa Sovereign lifted a home run to right field and tied the game at 2-2.
In the third, Penn State's Cassidy Bell doubled to centerfield and drove Plimpton from the game for Jen Mineau. Mineau promptly struck out Lisa Akamine and Kailyn Johnson to strand the runner in scoring position and keep the score netted at 2-2.
In the fourth, Kasie Hatfield tripled to right center just out of the reach of Jessica Crowley. From then, Mineau turned it up a notch and fanned Sovereign and Morgan Long and got pinch hitter, Danee Collett to pop up to first to turn aside the Nittany Lions.
Jamie LaBovick, the second batter of the inning, doubled into the right field corner, but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple. Luety struck out the Rams were turned aside in the fourth.
The bottom of the lineup came through for Fordham in the fifth. With one out, Jessica Crowley worked out a walk. Lindsey Kay Bright followed with a single up the middle and the Rams had runners on first and second. Penn State brought in Jackie Hill, whom Fordham beat on Friday night, to try and pitch out of trouble.
Hill induced Dearborn to hit into a fielder's choice, forcing Crowley at third, and got Callahan to ground out to shortstop. The score remained even at 2-2 after five innings.
The game headed into the seventh and Mineau struck out the side when the Nittany Lions came to bat. In Fordham's half, Jessica Crowley worked her second walk of the game, but she was stranded at first and the game headed to extra innings.
In the eighth, Penn State's Lauren Rossi reached on a fielding error by Pellechio. After a fly out, Cassidy Bell also reached on an error by Pellechio and the Nittany Lions had two on and one out. Mineau got Akamine to fly to left and Johnson took Crowley back to the wall in dead center, but Crowley hauled it in and Penn State was turned aside in the seventh.
Callahan led off the bottom of the frame with a line drive single to center. Jo Krasnisky came in to run for her. Two batters later, Wiggins singled to center and Krasnisky advanced to second. LaBovick lined out to left and Luety grounded to third for the force and the Rams were turned away in the eighth.
Both teams went in order in the ninth and tenth and the game headed into the eleventh. In the top of the eleventh, Akamine lifted a ball into the left-center-field gap that Lindsey Kay Bright hauled in on the dead run for the second out. From there, Johnson and Harfield ripped back-to-back singles and the Nittany Lions had two runners on base. Mineau was able to escape by striking out Hatfield and stranded two.
Fordham managed the only hit until the fifteenth innings as both pitchers continued to dominate. In the fifteenth, Hill, the opposing hurler, took a Mineau offering back to wall in dead center, but Crowley hauled it in for the first out. Penn State didn't score in the fifteenth as Mineau got the next two batters on a fly ball to center and a strikeout.
Fordham didn't score in the fifteenth and the game moved into the sixteenth. Ostman led off with a line drive single to left. She advanced to second on a wild pitch. Bell walked and the Nittany Lions had the first two runners on base. Akamine took the next pitch to the wall in left center scoring Ostman and Bell and Penn State took a 4-2 lead. Johnson followed with a line drive to center that drove in Shannon Hutchinson, who ran for Akamine, 5-2 Nittany Lions.
The Rams went in order in the bottom of the sixteenth and Penn State had a 5-2 win. Mineau suffered the loss and finished her junior campaign with an overall mark of 24-8. The game was longest in Fordham's history, as well as the longest in time and innings at Beard Field.
The loss ends Fordham's 2011 season with a 42-19 overall record. It was the culmination in the careers of the five senior members of the team: Jocelyn Dearborn, Beckah Wiggins, Samantha Pellechio, Chelsea Plimpton and Meghan Shager.
