Softball Begins A-10 Tournament Wednesday Afternoon

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AMHERST, Mass. -- The Fordham softball team (32-18, 17-5 A10) starts the Atlantic 10 Tournament Wednesday as the third seed and will take on St. Bonaventure (15-22, 7-11 A10), who is the sixth seed, at Massachusetts's Sortino Field, with first pitch slated for 2:30 p.m. The Rams have won the last two conference titles and three of four. Fordham looks to become the first three-peat winner since UMass won six straight from 2005-10.

The action starts at 12 p.m. when fourth-seeded George Mason (21-27, 11-12 A10) faces fifth-seeded La Salle (13-20, 9-11 A-10). The losers of Wednesday's contests play an elimination game later in the day at 5 p.m.

The Rams enter the tournament playing their best softball of the year and are riding a season-high seven-game win streak, their longest since winning 15 straight last season (April 5-April 26). During the current streak, Fordham has posted five shutouts, including four straight, and the Rams have outscored their opponents, 42-4. They have won 10 of 11 and 15 of 17 since dropping a doubleheader to regular-season champ Dayton back on April 4.

One of the losses came in a 4-3 defeat at St. Bonaventure (April 15) when the Rams led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Fordham won the first game, 10-2, after breaking a 2-2 tie with seven runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh.

The Rams did not yield a run when they swept Mason at their place last weekend, as Fordham won by scores of 5-0, 3-0 and 1-0 (nine innings). Over the final weekend of March, the Rams swept La Salle in a rain-shorted series at Bahoshy Field, 8-0 (six innings) and 8-1.

Fordham started conference play March 21-22 at Saint Louis (36-16, 18-5 A10), who earned a bye as the second seed. The Rams jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first of the opener, before losing on a walk-off home run, 5-3. Fordham bounced back in game two by rallying from an earlier deficit and then hung on for an 8-5 victory. In the series finale, the Rams led 8-0 entering the bottom of the second and 10-5 heading into the bottom of the fifth, but the Billikins rallied and scored three times in their final at-bat to walk off an 11-10 victory.

Dayton (37-12, 20-2 A10) is the top seed and received a bye as well. One of the Flyers losses was handed out by Fordham when the Rams took the opener at Bahoshy Field, 5-1. Because of rain, the two sides were forced to play their doubleheader the following day, and Dayton won by scores of 5-1 and 8-0 (six innings).

If Fordham defeats St. Bonaventure, the Rams face Saint Louis Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The tournament runs through Saturday, May 9, and every game will be streamed on the Atlantic 10 Network.