Photo GalleryAMHERST, Mass. -- The Fordham softball team rallied from a 1-0 deficit by scoring five runs over its final two at-bats Wednesday and pulled away for a 5-1 victory over sixth-seeded St. Bonaventure to begin Atlantic 10 Tournament play at Sortino Field. With the win, the Rams increase their win streak to eight games and improve to 33-18 on the season, while the Bonnies fall to 15-23 overall and play fifth-seeded La Salle later today at 5 p.m.
Behind the ability of senior
Cora Ianiro to put the ball in play coupled with redshirt junior
Rachel Gillen's pitching performance, Fordham was able to prevent an upset, after St. Bonaventure grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second on Emily Belfield's long home run.
The Rams had chances in the first and third innings with two outs but stranded runners in scoring position both times, including a pair to end the third.
But Fordham made its move in the bottom of the fifth when Ianiro got the ball rolling. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, she lifted a harmless fly ball to right field. However, both the right fielder and second baseman lost the ball in the high sky, and it dropped in between the two. Ianiro, who was hustling out of the box from the beginning, found herself on second with a lead-off double.
The next batter, senior
Brianna Turgeon, dropped down a perfect bunt and reached on the infield single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Sophomore
Sydney Canessa followed and lined the first pitch to right field to plate Ianiro, as the RBI sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1. Turgeon advanced to second on the throw home, but she was left on the base paths.
Gillen then worked in and out of trouble in the top of the sixth. She allowed a lead-off bunt single to Kelli Rohan, who immediately stole second to navigate into scoring position. After a pair of pop outs, the Bonnies kept the inning alive when sophomore
Lindsay Mayer made an error at third base. Fordham then intentionally walked Belfield after a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. Gillen, however, buckled down and recorded her 10th strikeout of the game to end the threat.
The Rams were able to put the game away with four unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 5-1 lead. With one out, Gillen laced a one-out single through the left side and advanced to second when senior
Paige Ortiz reached on an error by the third baseman. After senior
Michele Daubman lined out to right field for the second out, Ianiro stepped to the plate, and on a 2-2 pitch, hit a chopper to the shortstop, but the ball when right under her glove into left-center field, which allowed Gillen to score the eventual game-winning run.
The bad luck continued for the Bonnies in the frame when Turgeon lifted a fly ball to right field that would have ended the inning for the second time. The right fielder, who was battling the sun, dropped the ball on a catch she should have made, resulting in a three-base error and two more runs for Fordham. Turgeon then capped the scoring when Canessa drove her home with a RBI single.
St. Bonaventure singled to start the top of the seventh, but a strikeout and an 8-3 double play ended the game and advanced the Rams to the next round for a date with second-seeded Saint Louis at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Gillen (21-8) went the distance for the 17th time and allowed the one earned run one eight hits, issued the one intentional walk and fanned 11. She also had two hits to lead the offense, who finished with eight, while Canessa added the only two RBI.
Josie Borysevicz (11-10) also went the distance in the loss. She allowed five runs (one earned) on eight hits, walked none and struck out three. Rohan had two hits to pace the Bonnies' offense.
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