Photo GalleryBRONX, N.Y. -- Behind the strong pitching of redshirt junior
Rachel Gillen and senior
Cora Ianiro's third home run of the season, the Fordham softball team opened its three-game Atlantic 10 series with a 5-1 triumph over Dayton at a rainy Bahoshy Field Friday. With the victory, the Rams improve to 17-14 (4-1 A10) on the season, while the Flyers fall to 23-11 (7-2 A 10) overall.
Gillen (11-6) went the distance for the 10th time and nearly recorded her fourth shutout. The southpaw allowed her only run and two walks of the game in the seventh inning while battling the heaviest rains of the day. Two of the five hits she gave up also came in the final inning before finishing with five strikeouts.
Ianiro broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth with a line-drive three-run homer over the right-center field fence, which proved to be the difference in the contest. Sophomore
Lindsay Mayer and senior Kayla Lombaro each walked to begin the frame, and Ianiro sent them home with her one-out opposite-field blast.
Later on the inning, seniors
Paige Ortiz and
Brianna Turgeon singled, which advanced junior pinch runner
Cailin Winokur to third base. She then scored on sophomore
Sydney Canessa's RBI fielder's choice rocket off the shortstop, which increased the lead to 4-0.
Fordham stretched its advantage to 5-0 in the bottom of the fifth when Lombardo scored from second base on an errant throw by the second baseman, who was attempting to complete the double play at first after Ianrio hit a groundball to shortstop.
Gillen created an interesting top of the seventh for herself. The leadoff batter reached on an infield single, after she was unable to make a tough play on a comebacker. A single through the left side and a walk loaded the bases with no outs, but Gillen induced an infield fly out to second base for the first out. After Dayton scored on a bases-loaded walk, Gillen recorded the second out on a very short fly ball to center field, and the game ended on Turgeon's leaping catch down the left-field line, which saved potentially three runs from scoring.
Each side finished with just five hits. The Flyers' leadoff batter, Natalie Mariano, was the only player to record multiple hits, as she finished 2-for-3 and would have been the next batter in the Dayton lineup if it was not for Turgeon's defensive play.
Kayla English (11-5) took the loss in the circle and departed after Ianiro's home run. She lasted 3.1 innings, yielded three earned runs on two hits, walked two and struck out three. Manda Cash tossed the final 2.2 innings and was touched for two runs (one earned) on three hits while walking none and whiffing four.
The series concludes Saturday with a doubleheader slated to begin at 11 a.m. A free video stream will take place on the Atlatnic 10 Network.
