Philadelphia – The Fordham softball team swept Saint Joseph's this weekend after the Rams' 12-4 Sunday win in six innings. With the results, Fordham improves to 21-15 (5-1) and has now won five straight and 12 of 14, while the Hawks fall to 11-14-1 (1-4-1) overall.
Lindsay Mayer picked up her first career victory with three hitless innings of relief as head coach
Bridget Orchard opted to give all three of her pitchers a turn in the circle on the day. Mayer also impressed at the plate with a three-hit day and two RBIs,
Amy Van Hoven also notched three hits with two runs, and the team stole seven bases on the day, the most in any game this season.
"I'm very proud of this team and their ability to battle throughout this series with Saint Joseph's," Orchard said after the game, "This was a total team effort. So many players have stepped up huge for us lately. They really picked each other up and showed a ton of heart today."
Van Hoven started her day with a single to shortstop and stole second base a few pitches later. After
Sydney Canessa walked, Mayer reached on an infield single, and
Rachel Gillen stepped up to plate two with a single to center field. Anna Lauterbach limited the damage to just the two runs by getting the final two outs with strikeouts.
Chelsea Skrepenak was hit by a pitch and
Morgan Figueroa walked to start the second.
Jessica Hughes' only hit of the day brought home Shrepenak on a single to right center. Hughes then stole second, her conference-leading 22
nd stolen base of the year, and moved into third place all-time with her single season total. Three more runs would score in the inning but all were unearned due to a fielding error by Taryn Grober. The third run was scored by Canessa on a double steal with Mayer.
Saint Joseph's got on the board with a two-run home run by Sarah Yoos in the third. Gillen finished her day with three innings of two-run ball, three hits allowed, two walks, and four strikeouts. The three frames bump Gillen above
Chelsea Plimpton and into the top five for most innings pitched in program history.
Lauren Quense replaced Gillen on the bump with
Madison Shaw moving over to first base. Quense's day was short, however, as Orchard opted for Mayer after two singles by Hawks players, with the second resulting in a run due to a Skrepenak throwing error. Shaw replaced Mayer at the hot corner and Quense returned to first. Grober got the Hawks within two with a sac fly but Mayer set the next two batters down in order.
Fordham's six-run sixth inning ended the game early via the runs rule. After Hughes struck out, Van Hoven singled again and stole second. Canessa singled to shortstop and Mayer smacked a RBI single to right center. Gillen reached on Grober's second error of the day and Canessa scored. Shaw continued her hot-hitting ways with a pair of RBIs on a single to left center to get the Rams up to double figures and also stole her fourth base of the year. Skrepenak singled to third and stole second to put both runners in scoring position. The duo would score on the next play – a fourth Hawks error, this time by the shortstop.
Mayer closed out the contest with another hitless frame and finished the day with three innings, no hits, a pair of walks, and four strikeouts. Lauterbach allowed 11 hits and 11 runs, although only four were earned, in five and a third innings of work.
Orchard's squad are now 5-4 on the road with the three-game sweep. Through six conference games thus far, the Rams are hitting .333 as a team, with Van Hoven's .500 average leading the way. Gillen, Mayer, Shaw and Hughes have been particularly hot these last two weeks by batting .450, .421, .412, and .409 respectively. Hughes has been brilliant in the leadoff spot and has tallied eight runs in just 22 conference at-bats.
Fordham returns home to host Lehigh in a single nonconference match-up on Tuesday, April 5. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Bahoshy Softball Complex.
