Dayton, Ohio – The Fordham softball team dropped both games of Sunday's Atlantic 10 doubleheader at Dayton and switched places in the standings with the Flyers as a result. Originally scheduled to be a three-game series over Saturday and Sunday, rain caused the important series to shift solely to a twinbill. The Rams fall to 32-18 overall and 15-4 in conference play, while the Flyers improve to 26-16-1 and 14-2-1, and ascend to the top of the league.
Dayton pitching held the Rams offense to just two runs on Sunday and it took just two bad innings amid quality outings from Fordham starter
Lauren Quense for the Flyers offense to capitalize on their opponent's low scoring, with game two culminating in a walk-off win for the hosts on an obstruction call at the plate.
Jessica Hughes walked to open up both contests, making it the fourth and fifth games in a row. In game one, she walked on four pitches and promptly stole second, her league-leading 32
nd of the year. Cash needed just eight pitches to strand the freshman there and end the inning. Quense allowed two singles in her first two frames while also striking out three. Cash struck out five of the next six Fordham hitters she faced before Dayton's big third inning.
Cash got things started herself with an infield single and was pinch ran for by Kennedy Haynes. Quense induced a fly out to left but a sacrifice bunt attempt turned into a single thereafter and Gabrielle Snyder also reached on an infield single to load the bases with just one out. Three pitches later and Krista Gustafson took her deep for a grand slam to left and a four-run lead. Kailee Budicin reached but slick fielding from right fielder
Chelsea Skrepenak helped get Quense out of the jam, the freshman robbed Katie Ryan of a hit with a diving catch and she threw out Budicin at first for the final out.
Sydney Canessa led off the fourth with a single and stole second later in the inning but hers was just one of two hits the Rams could muster against Cash over the final four frames. However, that other hit was reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week
Madison Shaw's team-high 10
th home run of the season in the seventh.
Quense pitched a 1-2-3 fourth and was replaced by
Lindsay Mayer for the final two frames. The Lincoln, R.I. native allowed just two hits and no walks with a pair of strikeouts in two innings. Cash reached 10 wins with a complete game one-hitter, allowing three total hits and one walk with eight punchouts.
Lauren Quense was in the circle again for the first inning of game two and was sharp until a three-hit two-run seventh, giving up just three hits in the innings prior, with two of those coming in the first.
Hughes walked on five pitches to start game two and stole second, her 33
rd, and came around to score on a Canessa sacrifice line out to center. Quense induced two straight ground outs to Mayer at third to start the first before allowing two straight singles. Budicin popped out to Hughes to end the frame. Snyder, starting for the Flyers, pitched a clean second with two strikeouts before giving way to Emily Froment in the third.
Maria Trivelpiece, serving as the designated player in both contests, walked on seven pitches to start the inning but was thrown out on a fielder's choice off the bat of
Morgan Figueroa. Hughes singled to center before
Amy Van Hoven flied out. Froment entered for Snyder and allowed the two runners to advance on a wild pitch before walking Canessa. With the bases jammed, Froment got an aggressive Mayer to ground out to end the threat.
Fordham got two runners in scoring position in the fourth via an
Ally Vergona fielder's choice and Trivelpiece's first career double. Figueroa, again on a first pitch, popped out to the pitcher. Vergona threw two runners out attempting to steal second on the day.
Quense allowed just one hit between the first and seventh innings before the Flyers got to the junior for three hits in the final frame. Snyder and Gustafson both singled to lead off the frame and after Budicin flied out, Katie Ryan's double off the left field wall started a rare series of events leading to the walk-off win. Figueroa's throw home with Snyder bearing down ended up hitting off Snyder's helmet, allowing the runner to score. Gustafson initially took off for home before retreating and getting caught in a run down. Home plate umpire Joe Alfonso deemed the eventual play at the plate to be obstruction on Vergona and awarded the hosts the winning run.
With the decision, Quense was saddled with her ninth loss of the year despite hurling a complete game, with six hits and one earned run in six and a third innings, walking none and striking out one. Froment earned her second victory of the year with over four scoreless frames.
The Rams will look to earn a first-round bye in the postseason when they return home for a three-game set against George Mason to round out the regular season.
