Softball Splits Doubleheader Against Massachusetts on Saturday

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score | Game One Photo Gallery | Game Two Photo Gallery
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team improved to 2-1 in conference play with a doubleheader split against visiting Massachusetts on Saturday to close out the three-game Atlantic 10-opening series. The Rams dropped a 3-2 contest in game one and defeated the Minutewomen, 4-0, behind Rachel Gillen's one-hit shutout. Fordham now stands at 17-15 overall, while Massachusetts moves to 7-18 (1-2) on the season.
 
Game one featured a pitcher's duel early on with three scoreless one-hit innings for both Lauren Quense and Meg Colleran but the Carbone sisters combined for two runs, with Taylor smacking a solo home run first and Kaycee doubling home Tara Klee in the fourth, and an error by Amy Van Hoven the following inning led to the game-winning run.
 
Lindsay Mayer did cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth with a ground-rule double to score Van Hoven, who was the only Ram to notch at least two hits in the contest, and the shortstop contributed at the plate as well with a RBI single to score Chelsea Skrepenak in the fifth, but the Rams couldn't muster enough offense to overcome Colleran and the Minutewomen.
 
Rachel Gillen dazzled in the circle in game two. The grad student twirled nearly six perfect innings before allowing a one-out triple to Kaycee Carbone. All in all, Gillen tossed seven innings of one-hit ball with no walks and four strikeouts. The shutout moves her into a tie for fourth-most in program history with Chelsea Plimpton. The win also moves Gillen into sole possession of the fourth-most wins (43) and is now tied with Plimpton for sixth-most complete games (34).
 
At the plate, the Rams were limited to two hits over their first three innings by Taylor Carbone, a double by Gillen in the second and a single in the third by Jessica Hughes. In the fourth, Sydney Canessa dropped a single down the left field line and moved to third on a Mayer single to right. Gillen stepped up and delivered the eventual winner with a 1-2 RBI single through the left side to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Fordham added two more in the fifth on a booming opposite field two-run home run by Hughes and a fourth in the sixth after a pair of fielding errors in the outfield allowed Cailin Winokur to score.
 
The Rams play again on Wednesday, March 31, with two nonconference games at Iona. Game one is slated to begin at 4 p.m.