Softball at Iona on Thursday

Live Stats
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (17-15, 2-1 A10) is on the road for one of its three spring midweek nonconference match-ups when it travels to New Rochelle, N.Y. for a 3 p.m. contest at Iona (5-16) on Thursday, March 31.
 
The Rams have won 11 of their last 13 contests dating back to a 5-2 victory over Iowa State in the final match of the Black & Orange Challenge at Mercer on March 6. Recently, Fordham captured the program's 700^th victory in a 5-3 home win over Massachusetts in the team's Atlantic 10 opener.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams took the three-game UMass series, 2-1, with wins in game one and two. Graduate student Rachel Gillen threw a complete game, the 33^rd of her career, and provided the game-winning run in the fifth inning via a two-run bomb. Gillen also had the team's only other extra base hit – a double – in the third inning, while junior Amy Van Hoven continued her torrid spring with a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate.
 
Game two on Saturday morning began with a pitcher's duel early on between UMass' Meg Colleran and Lauren Quense. Each gave up two earned runs but the latter is unlucky to earn her sixth loss of the year when the game-winning run scored on an error by Van Hoven. Lindsay Mayer had a RBI ground-rule double in the contest and Chelsea Skrepenak scored the team's second on a Van Hoven single.
 
Gillen again starred in game three with a 4-0 one-hit shutout and the eventual game-winning hit with a fourth inning RBI single. Gillen was perfect for nearly six full innings before a one-out triple by Kaycee Carbone. Fordham added two more runs 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.
 
Get to Know the Gaels
Iona heads into their home opener with eight straight losses over the last two weeks during an 11-game road swing in California. The Gaels open up MAAC play with a doubleheader against Monmouth this Sunday. The five-time conference champions are batting just .253 as a team, with Marisa Gergel leading the way with a .365 average and Kristen Turner right behind her at .343 and a team-high two home runs and 12 RBIs. In the circle, the Gaels have five pitchers that have started at least two games and just two over five. Christine Costello's 3.18 ERA is the best of the bunch. Costello (1-4) has thrown the most innings of the group at 50.2 despite only starting in four of her 10 appearances.
 
Up Next
The Rams travel down to Philadelphia, Pa. for the three-game series against Saint Joseph's this weekend, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 2, at noon, and a single contest on Sunday also at noon.