Softball at Rhode Island This Weekend

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (29-16, 12-2) saw a 13-game winning streak end with a loss to Saint Louis on Sunday but will look to begin a new one when it travels up to Rhode Island (12-22, 3-9) this weekend for a three-game Atlantic 10 series. The Rams have won all four conference series up to this point.
 
Last Time Out
Fordham swept the Bilikens on Alumni Day last Saturday, with a 3-0 victory in game one and a shortened 12-1 result in game two.
 
Lauren Quense fired her fourth shutout of the season in game one, allowing one hit, to garner her 12^th victory of the season, tying Rachel Gillen for the team lead. Lindsay Mayer provided the game winner in the first inning, after the first three Rams got on base, with a RBI single through the right side. Gillen, returning from two weeks of injury, singled in Amy Van Hoven for the second run. Freshman Chelsea Skrepenak capped the offense with a powerful opposite-field solo home run in the fourth, her second long-ball of her career. The Rams could have added more runs but stranded nine runners despite their 10 hits.
 
Mayer started her second career game for the Rams in game two and allowed just one unearned run on two hits over five innings of work. The junior also walked four and struck out five, although three of the free passes occurred in the first inning. Sydney Canessa's booming RBI double scored Jessica Hughes for the game's first run before scoring herself on a Mayer sacrifice fly. The Rams scored six more runs in the second, first on an Ally Vergona RBI ground-rule double and two more on Morgan Figueroa's perfectly placed chopper over the pitcher's head and up the middle to score Vergona and Skrepenak. Two more runs followed on Biliken errors in the field.
 
Four runs in the third would be the end of the day's offense as Canessa's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded made it 9-1 and then Madison Shaw ripped a bases-clearing double a couple batters later.
 
To read more about the series against Saint Louis, click here.
 
Milestone Watch
Rachel Gillen is featured on nearly every career pitching record top-10, which you can view in its entirety here. With one more appearance, she will tie Chelsea Plimpton for sixth-most all-time and with two more she will join Jamie Giguere in fifth. Gillen's next complete game will give her sole possession of fourth place in the all-time ranks.
 
Jessica Hughes notched her 27^th steal of the season last weekend which moves her into second place in a single season all-time, just two behind Lindsey Kay Bright's 29 set in 2009. Hughes sits in joint-ninth, with Jocelyn Dearborn, on the all-time career ranks, just one behind teammate Amy Van Hoven, who stole her 28^th career bag a few pitches after Hughes stole her 27^th.
 
You can find two current players on the all-time top-10 for career batting average: Van Hoven and Mayer, at second (.354) and fourth (.343), respectively. Mayer's .531 career slugging percentage is also the ninth-highest in school history. Van Hoven also recently entered the all-time hits (181 – 10^th) and runs scored (119 – 8^th) lists, as well. Sydney Canessa ranks sixth in runs scored all-time with 130 and eighth all-time with 68 walks. She'll tie Samantha Pellechio with her next free pass.

Hughes Named Finalist for Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year
The Sewell, N.J. native was recently named one of 25 finalists for the annual award thanks to her tremendous start to her Fordham career. You can read more here.
 
Get to Know the (Rhode Island) Rams
Rhody has won three of its four series game one's this season. They won their first A-10 match-up, at George Mason, 2-0, picked up its second in game one at Saint Louis, and third in game one against George Washington last weekend, 1-0.  However, they've lost eight of their previous 10 contests coming into this series.
 
The Rams have just one player batting above .300 on the year, Kylie Shivery, and have a deep, rotated squad behind her. Shivery is at the top of close to the top of all offensive categories on the team with 14 runs, five doubles, 34 hits, one triple, five home runs, 32 RBIs, and a .533 slugging percentage. Paige Julich also has five home runs on the season and is the only other Ram with double-digit RBIs. In the circle, Becca Rogers paces Rhode Island with a 9-6 record and 3.17 ERA. She has six complete games, two shutouts, and 65 strikeouts over 95 innings.
 
Up Next
The Rams remain on the road for a three-game set next weekend at Dayton beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 30. Fordham has just one more home series, against George Mason, to round out the regular season schedule.