Photo GalleryBRONX, N.Y. -- For the second consecutive Saturday, the Fordham softball team only needed five innings in both games to claim a sweep of a conference opponent. With it being Senior Day, the Rams shutout George Washington, 9-0, in the opener before claiming the nightcap, 11-3. Fordham improves to 27-18 (13-5 A10) on the season after the two wins, while the Colonials fall to 22-22 (4-13 A10) overall.
Game OneThe Rams scored all the runs they would need in the bottom of the first when senior
Kayla Lombardo singled home sophomore
Sydney Canessa, and redshirt junior
Rachel Gillen drove in sophomore
Amy Van Hoven with a RBI sacrifice fly to left field for a 2-0 lead. Gillen would later increase the edge to 3-0 with a second RBI sacrifice fly, this one to right field scoring sophomore
Lindsay Mayer.
Fordham put the game away in the bottom of the fifth with six runs on a pair of three-run bombs to clinch the win. Playing in front of several family members and friends, senior
Paige Ortiz drilled her team-leading eighth home run of the season over the left field fence, as Lombardo and junior
Cailin Winokur came around on the big fly. Later in the frame, Canessa followed suit with her third round-tripper of the season, which produced the mercy-rule victory, with senior
Michele Daubman and freshman
Morgan Figueroa scoring.
Gillen (18-8) tossed her 14th complete game and sixth shutout, as she limited GW to just three hits and no walks while fanning three. Canessa paced the offense with two hits, two runs and three RBI, while Ortiz and Gillen added three and two RBI, respectively. Fordham finished with seven hits.
Sarah Costlow (14-17) was charged with the loss after lasting 1+ innings. She allowed two earned runs on two hits, walked one and struck out none.
Game TwoThe Rams scored in every inning and pounded out 13 hits in the victory. Gillen started the scoring in the bottom of the first with a bases-clearing single to the gap in right center field, as Van Hoven Mayer and Lombardo all scored. Canessa then scored on an error in the bottom of the second to increase the lead to 4-0.
The Colonials sliced the lead in half to 4-2 in the top of the third, but Fordham responded with three more runs to go in front by a score of 7-2. Daubman and senior
Cora Ianiro scored on Canessa's two-run single to right center, and senior
Brianna Turgeon crossed home plate on Van Hoven's RBI single.
GW scored a run in the top of the fourth, before the Rams scored twice in the bottom half and two more times in the bottom of the fifth to claim the doubleheader sweep. Daubman hit her seventh home run of the season in the fourth, a ringing two-run shot over the right field fence that scored Gillen, and Lombardo ended the game with a two-run double to the gap in right center field scoring Canessa and Mayer.
Daubman (7-8) earned the victory in the circle after constructing 4.0 innings of work. She allowed three earned runs on four hits, walked one and whiffed one. Junior
Patti Maloney tossed a scoreless fifth inning for the Rams.
Canessa and Van Hoven each went 3-for-4, with Canessa adding two runs and two RBI. Daubman and Ianiro each had two hits, with Daubman also collecting two runs and two RBI. Mayer and Lombard also added two runs and two RBI, respectively.
Paige Kovalsky (8-3) lasted only 1/3 of an inning in the loss, as she allowed three earned runs on two hits.
Up NextFordham looks to complete the three-game sweep Sunday when the two sides conclude their series at 1 p.m.
