Washington, D.C. – After nearly 12 full innings and a two-hour rain delay, five and a half hours after first pitch,
Sydney Canessa's walk-off two-out RBI double pushed the top-seeded Fordham softball team past second-seeded Dayton, 1-0, and into the final day of the Atlantic 10 tournament. Before that,
Rachel Gillen and Dayton's Manda Cash were locked into one of the most epic pitchers' duels in A-10 tournament history.
With the win, the Rams improve to 36-19 on the year, while the Flyers see their season end with a 26-20-1 overall record.
Canessa may get the headline for her walk-off heroics, scoring
Morgan Figueroa from first with a deep drive to centerfield over the head of Gabrielle Snyder, but
Rachel Gillen kept the Dayton offense to just four hits over the game's first six innings, firing six perfect frames and retiring the final 20 batters she faced. Credit must also go to the Fordham defense as they made 18 of the last 20 putouts.
Amy Van Hoven doubled in the bottom of the first, Canessa reached on an error, and
Madison Shaw walked to load the bases but the A-10 Pitcher of the Year, Cash, worked out of the jam to keep Fordham off the board early. After that, Cash settled down and allowed just five hits over her next five innings and change before the rain delay. The Rams threatened again in the fourth, sixth, and seventh innings. In the first two instances,
Jessica Hughes reached base, once on a fielder's choice and once on a single, and stole second base. The two thefts put the freshman speedster back atop the conference leaderboards, tied with St. Bonaventure's Kelli Rohan. However, Cash was able to work out of the jam both times. In the seventh,
Chelsea Skrepenak reached on a bunt single to lead off the frame and stole second, as well, but Cash retired the final three batters.
Meanwhile, Gillen allowed just four hits over her first six frames. The grad student allowed her first two hits, both singles, in the third inning with two outs but a grounder to Van Hoven ended the threat. Krista Gustafson singled to lead off the fourth but
Lindsay Mayer caught a line drive and doubled her up at first base. In the sixth, Gabrielle Snyder doubled to center with one out but Gillen induced two pop-ups to end the inning. After that, Gillen allowed not one Flyer baserunner.
It was an error by Manda Cash in the circle on a grounder by Figueroa that started the game-ending rally with one out in the 12
th. Van Hoven took a 3-2 offering out to center with some power but Snyder tracked it down. Canessa stepped up to the plate with two outs, having not reached base in eight attempts since the start of the tournament, and took a first pitch fastball over Snyder's head near the warning track. Figueroa beat the throw home by several steps and the duo were mobbed by teammates and coaches.
Seven Rams registered at least one hit with Skrepenak the lone player to collect a pair. Dayton's Snyder also hit twice.
Lauren Quense reached three times, more than all players in the game, with a single and two walks. Manda Cash finished with just the one unearned run in 11.2 innings, allowing eight hits and three walks, while striking out six.
Rachel Gillen turned in arguably the best pitching performance of her Fordham career with a four-hit 12-inning complete game shutout, walking none, and punching out five for her 15
th victory of the season and third since returning from a five-week injury layoff. It is also the longest Fordham pitching performance since current Saint Joseph's pitching coach Jen Mineau tossed 14 innings in a 4-1 loss to eventual runner-up George Washington in the 2012 A-10 Tournament semi-final. That game doubled as the longest A-10 tournament contest ever.
The Rams look ahead now to tomorrow morning's meeting with #3 Massachusetts, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. With a win, Fordham would face #5 Saint Joseph's in the finals and would need to defeat the Hawks twice to win its fourth straight Atlantic 10 Conference championship. Tomorrow's games will be streamed live on the A-10 Digital Network and on WFUV Sports.
