Box Score Feb. 26, 2012
Arizona Stats | Fullerton Stats
Cathedral City, Calif. -
The Rams entered Saturday's games with #16/15 Arizona and Fullerton looking for a bit of redemption after opening up the Cathedral City Classic 0-3, and they split on the final day with a 3-2 defeat to the Wildcats and a 3-1 win over the Titans.
Game 1:
Fordham came out swinging in the first inning as Jamie LaBovick walked to leadoff the game. She was later called out for the leaving the base early, and that proved costly as Paige Ortiz and Elise Fortier reached base on back to back singles. The Rams failed to score in the frame and left both Ortiz and Fortier on the base paths.
Mineau had it going early as she allowed just a harmless, infield single in the first and a walk in the second as she struck out the side in the inning.
Mineau ran into some trouble in the third as Karissa Buchanan led off the frame with a single up the middle. She promptly stole second and moved over to third on an infield hit from Chelsea Suitos. Brigette Del Ponte then gave Arizona a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly that scored Buchanan.
The Wildcats added to their lead in the fifth. Buchanan led off with a single to left, stole second and moved to third when Luety clipped the arm of the umpire, who was signaling for a strikeout, and the ball went behind first base on a steal attempt. Two batter later Suitos doubled down the left field line scoring Buchanan and giving Arizona a 2-0 lead. Del Ponte followed her with another RBI double to left that drove in Suitos. Jessica Spinger followed Del Ponte and was plunked by the pitch. After Sam Davis came in to run for her, Mineau got of the inning with a strikeout and Arizona left two runners on base.
Fordham showed some moxie in the sixth as they opened the inning with consecutive singles from Nicole Callahan, Ortiz and Fortier and the Rams had the bases loaded with Brianna Ciuffi on third for Callahan and Erica Wills at second for Ortiz.
Luety got Fordham on the board with an infield single to the right side that scored Ciuffi to make the score 3-1. The bases remained loaded as Kayla Lombardo ran for Luety, and Kenzie Fowler relieved Shelby Babcock in the circle for the Wildcats. Two batter later, Brianna Turgeon worked an RBI walk as Wills came in to score and the Rams plated two runs in the inning and trailed 3-2 after five and a half innings.
In the seventh, Callahan got to first on a walk, but was stranded there and Arizona held on for a 3-2 win.
Ortiz and Fortier each had two hits for the Rams.
Game 2:
The final game of the tournament saw the Rams beat Fullerton for the second straight year. In the first inning, Mineau retired the Titans in order. The bottom of the inning had LaBovick and Callahan each open with singles, but they were stranded on second and third as Fordham failed to get any other hits in the inning.
The Titans took a 1-0 lead in the second as consecutive doubles led to a run. Nicole Johnson led off the inning with a double to left center. Morgan LeMond followed with a two-bagger to nearly the same place and Fullerton led 1-0..
The Fullerton lead lasted barely two innings as Luety evened the score in the fourth a solo blast over the wall in left. After four innings, the score was even at 1-1.
The Rams took the led in their half of the fifth as LaBovick ripped a one-out single to center. Two batter later, Ortiz blasted a home run over the wall in left driving in a pair and giving Fordham a 3-1 lead. Fortier followed with a double, but she was stranded there.
The Titans responded in the sixth. Eliza Crawford worked out a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a single to center from LeMond. Fullerton had runners on the corner with one out. From there, Mineau came through with a strikeout of Tiffany Sheffler and got Emily Vizcarra to pop up in the infield to escape the jam.
The Rams went on to win 3-1 and earned a split on the final day. With the win, Fordham is now 3-6 on the season.
The team returns to action on Friday, March 2, when they compete in the 2012 Citrus Classic from the Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. In that tournament the Rams will face Virginia Tech, North Carolina, UCLA, Longwood and Illinois State.
