Softball Tops SIU in Bottom of the Seventh

Box Score

Elise Fortier knocked in three runs on the day, including a two-run shot and the game winner in the bottom of the seventh, as the Rams topped Southern Illinois 8-7 in Tampa, Fla.
 
Freshman Sydney Canessa continued her stellar weekend of play, knocking a two-run dinger in the second.
 
The Rams jumped out to an early lead in the first, as Fortier hit her fourth home run of the year to put Fordham up 2-0.
 
After SIU tied the contest with a two-run shot of their own in the top of the second, the Rams responded with a huge bottom of the frame.  Paige Ortiz scored Brianna Turgeon on an RBI double before Canessa brought them both home with her second goner of the year.
 
The Rams added another run in the bottom of the third, bumping their cushion to four runs, 6-2, after three.
 
Southern Illinois responded in a big way in the top of the fifth, plating five runs and taking the lead, 7-6, from the Rams.
 
The Rams failed to answer back in the fifth or sixth frames, but their bats came alive in the deciding bottom of the seventh.  Gabby Luety started off the action with a double down the left field line.  Brianna Ciuffi came in to run for Luety, and moved to third on a Canessa ground out to the second baseman.  Next up was freshman Amy Van Hoven, who singled to the shortstop and subsequently stole second base.  With runners on second and third with no out, a throwing error by the short stop allowed both runs to come home, giving the Rams the come-from-behind victory.