Softball Wraps Up Regular Season with George Mason at Home

Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats
Twitter Updates at @FordhamSoftball

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (32-18, 15-4) wraps up the 2016 regular season with a three-game series against George Mason (22-22, 8-10) at Bahoshy Softball Complex this weekend. The Rams are looking to solidify their spot atop the Atlantic 10 standings and at least a first-round bye in next week's A-10 Tournament. First place Dayton is on the road at third place Massachusetts.
 
Fordham will clinch its third Atlantic 10 regular season championship only if the Rams sweep the Patriots at home and Dayton loses at least two games. Conversely, the Rams will fail to at least clinch one of the top two seeds in the tournament if they are swept by George Mason and Massachusetts sweeps Dayton at home.
 
Due to cancellations during the league slate, Dayton has played two fewer games than Fordham and Massachusetts has played one less than the Rams. Dayton also holds a tiebreaker over the Rams after defeating Fordham twice in Sunday's doubleheader in Ohio.
 
It is also senior day on Saturday! A ceremony to honor three outgoing players, Rachel Gillen, Allie Bradian, and Cailin Winokur, plus former team manager Kayla Robinson, will be held between game one and two of Saturday's doubleheader. Admission for all three contests, as always, is free.
 
Last Time Out
Two bad innings doomed Fordham to its first series loss and sweep last weekend at the hands of the Flyers. With the victories, Dayton leapfrogged Fordham in the standings and is hoping to clinch its second straight regular season A-10 title.
 
Junior Lauren Quense started both contests for Fordham and also took both losses, moving to 15-9 on the season. A third-inning grand slam in game one and a three-hit, two-run seventh in game two proved to be the difference on Sunday. Aside from those two innings, Quense allowed no other runs in nine innings with just five hits allowed and four strikeouts. Quense did not walk a batter in either contest.
 
The Rams scored their runs on a Madison Shaw solo home run, her team-leading 10^th of the year, in the seventh inning of game one and a Sydney Canessa sacrifice fly in the first inning of game two, scoring Jessica Hughes. Hughes led off both contests with a walk and a stolen base, the fourth and fifth straight games in which the freshman has started games with a walk.
 
Fordham just concluded one of its most prolific all-around months in recent memory, compiling a 14-1 overall record. Lindsay Mayer batted an absurd .490 across 15 contests and five other players hit at least .295. Shaw saw a big spike in power output with six home runs, Hughes batted .347 and paced the squad with 24 runs, 14 walks, and 12 stolen bases. Quense pitched her way to an 8-1 record and 2.03 ERA, while Mayer stepped in to throw 32 innings, piling up a 5-0 record, two saves, and a 2.41 ERA.
 
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 steals 32 and 33 on the season at Dayton, to expand her lead as the program's single season all-time leader. Hughes is now in sole possession of fifth place in the all-time ranks but needs 15 more thefts to tie Ivy Pollock. Junior shortstop Amy Van Hoven has sole possession of ninth on the all-time list, with 29. 
 
You can find two current players on the all-time top-10 for career batting average: Van Hoven and Lindsay Mayer, at second (.356) and seventh (.334), respectively. Junior Sydney Canessa's .325 career average has her just outside the top ten – currently 12^th highest in school history. Mayer's .516 career slugging percentage is also the ninth-highest in school history.
 
Van Hoven also recently entered the all-time hits (189 – 9^th) and runs scored (125 – 8^th) lists, as well. Van Hoven needs five more hits to tie Allison Storc for eighth-most. Sydney Canessa ranks sixth in runs scored all-time with 133 and is joint-seventh with Samantha Pellechio in career walks with 69. Also, thanks to a recent surge of sacrifice flies, Canessa is just three away from joining three others for the fifth-most in school history, with 17. 
 
With the recent uptick in responsibility in the circle, Quense has surged up several all-time lists. The junior hurler now has the ninth-most wins in program history, with 21, and is joint-10^th in a single season in starts (29) and shutouts (four). Quense also needs just three appearances, 20 strikeouts, and one shutout to enter the all-time lists for each respective statistic.
 
As a team, the Rams' .296 batting average is just one point away from the fifth-best mark set in 2012 and already have the fourth-most stolen bases in school history, with 75. This year's squad is just one theft away from tying 2010's mark of 76. In the field, these Rams and their .967 fielding percentage has already matched last year's defense for fourth-best in program history.
 
Get to Know the Patriots
George Mason welcomed Saint Louis to Richmond this past weekend and was swept in a rain-shortened two-game series. Prior to that, the Patriots took two of three at La Salle, at Saint Joseph's, and split a doubleheader at home against George Washington.
 
Julia Czarnecki's .341 average paces the Patriots and is the 15^th-best mark in the conference. Of her 44 hits, however, only four have gone for extra bases. Czarnecki also leads the team with 27 runs scored. The team as a whole only have six home runs on the season, with Jess Middleton leading the way with three, but have 302 other hits on the year. Casey Price's .322 is second-best on the squad and her eight steals lead the pack. Her and Liz Seymour have nearly identical numbers and are two of the standouts on this team.
 
In the circle, it'll be Marina Vitalich that the Rams will see the most of. Vitalich has a 1.53 ERA across 29 appearances, 16 starts, with 12 complete games and three saves, striking out 165 in 137 innings. Sarah Kleinfelter has started more contests (20) but has a 5-9 record and 3.04 ERA, plus two saves.
 
Up Next
The Rams head to Washington, D.C. for their 14^th consecutive conference tournament under Bridget Orchard. The final seeding is still to be determined so Fordham could potentially begin play on either Wednesday or Thursday. More information will be available early next week.