Softball Opens Home Schedule With Doubleheader Sweep

Game One Box | Game Two Box

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team opened up the home portion of its schedule with a doubleheader sweep of Providence College as part of the Fordham Tournament at Bahoshy Field. The 5-0 and 8-3 victories made it three in a row for the Rams, including Sunday's 5-2 win over Iowa State in the final game of the Black & Orange Challenge. With the results, Fordham improves to 9-13 on the season, while the Friars fall to 9-10 overall.
 
Game One
Lauren Quense was the star of the first contest, firing a one-hitter en route to her third victory of the campaign. All Fordham damage came in a five-run fourth inning. The Rams' offense led off the frame with four straight singles. Rachel Gillen's RBI single to right center proved to be the game winner, scoring Lindsay Mayer. Madison Shaw followed with one of her own, while Quense drew a walk. Fordham gained two more runs on RBI groundouts from Ally Vergona and Morgan Figueroa. Jessica Hughes capped off the frame with a RBI single through the left side to score Jordana Storm, who had pinch ran for Quense.
 
Quense walked her first batter of the contest and had to work through a runner in scoring position following a sacrifice bunt. The junior struck out Brittney Veler and induced a line out at short to get out of the jam. Quense set down 14 of the next 16 batters, around a walk and hit batsman, before Veler roped a double off the left field wall in the sixth inning. Quense came back out for her final inning of work and sandwiched two swinging strikeouts around a walk and a line out for her second career shutout.

Shaw led the offense with three hits in three trips up to the plate and one RBI.

 
Game Two
As impressive as Quense was in game one limiting the opposition to just one hit, Rachel Gillen found her groove quickly in game two after allowing three runs in the third, as she totaled 14 strikeouts on the afternoon during a seven-inning complete game, just one off her career-high. Like Quense, Gillen walked Kiki Baldassari to begin the game but one pitch later, Stephanie Ferri gunned her down trying to steal second. After allowing a single to Emma Lee, Gillen retired her next two batters, including her first strikeout of the day.
 
Jessica Hughes and Amy Van Hoven began the game for Fordham with two infield singles before advancing on a passed ball. After Canessa struck out, Mayer walked to load the bases. Gillen then provided her own offense with a two-run single to left. After two more strikeouts in the circle for Gillen, the Rams offense garnered another two runs, this time with two outs. Hughes walked and stole second, while Van Hoven walked and Canessa's infield single loaded the bases for Mayer. The junior ripped a two-run single to right field in what would eventually become the game-winning hit.
 
Gillen ran into trouble in the third inning allowing three runs on four hits despite starting the frame off with consecutive swinging strikeouts, her fifth and sixth of the contest. Veler's RBI double to left and Nicole Lundstrom's two-run single proved to be the Friars' offense on the day.
 
With a slim one-run advantage, the Rams extended their lead in the bottom of the inning with three more runs. Maddie Shaw walked, stole second, and scored on Quense's single up the middle and both Hughes and Van Hoven tallied RBI singles later in the frame. Gillen struck out the side in the fourth, added two more in the fifth after allowing two baserunners, and tallied another pair in the sixth, all swinging. The junior would garner one more in the seventh to wrap up the win.
 
Quense moves to 3-5 on the season, while Gillen improves to 6-8.
 
The Rams host Saint Peter's tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, at 2 p.m. and 12 p.m., respectively, as part of the team's five-game home swing.