Softball Ties Best Program Start at 4-1 with Two Victories on Saturday

Tucson, Ariz. – Behind a walk-off home run by Madison Shaw earlier in the day and a gutsy pitching performance by Lauren Quense in the nightcap, the Fordham softball team posted a pair of 4-3 victories over CSUN and Northwestern on Saturday to finish the team's stay at the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tucson, Arizona
 
With the two wins, Fordham improved to 4-1, tying the team's best-ever start, as the Rams also started 4-1 in 2010 and 2013.
 
Madison Shaw played the hero in game one, blasting a walk-off pinch-hit solo home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, as the Rams topped CSUN, 4-3.

The Shaw home run came after Sydney Canessa had tied the game with a two-run jack in the sixth inning.

 
Fordham had started the contest off with a first-inning run, with Amy Van Hoven scoring on a dropped ball at the plate after a fielder's choice by Lindsay Mayer.  Van Hoven led off the game with a double, the senior's 200^th hit of her career, becoming the seventh Ram to ever reach the milestone.
 
The Matadors tacked on runs in the second, third, and fifth innings with an RBI-single, a solo home run, and a sacrifice fly, respectively, before the Rams rallied to grab their third win of the year in dramatic fashion.
 
Just three players mustered a hit before Canessa's home run, and two of them came in that first inning. Skylar Johnston, who hit her first home run on Friday, singled in the fourth inning.   Over her first five innings, Daphne Pofeck allowed three hits, no walks, struck out three.  Fordham's Madison Aughinbaugh got the start for Fordham and went the distance, allowing seven hits and three runs over seven innings with no walks and five strikeouts for her first career victory.  Jessica Hughes also stole second in the sixth inning, her first of the year after setting the program's single-season mark last year with 36.
 
In game two of the day, Lauren Quesne allowed two earned runs and struck out seven, while having a crucial two-run single in the fourth inning to lead Fordham to a 4-3 win over the Northwestern Wildcats, who were receiving votes for the top 25.
 
The Rams opened the scoring with two runs in the first, as Van Hoven led off with a single and Canessa drew a walk.  After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Van Hoven scored on a ground out by Lindsay Mayer, while Canessa scored on a single to left center by Shaw.
 
Fordham increased its lead to 4-0 in the third, as starting pitcher Lauren Quense helped her own cause with a two-run single up the middle, scoring Canessa and Mayer, who both reached on singles earlier in the inning.

 
Northwestern pulled within one at 4-3 in the fifth inning on RBI-singles from Morgan Nelson, Kenzie Ellis, and Anna Petersen.
 
The Wildcats threatened to tie the game in the sixth, loading the bases with two outs.  However, Morgan Figueroa made a long run to the left field corner, making the catch on a fly ball by Nelson, keeping the Rams in the lead.
 
Then in the seventh, the Rams sweated out another rally, as Northwestern had runners at the corners with two out, but Quense struck out Alcy Bush to end the game, giving Fordham its fourth win of the week.
 
Quense (3-0) posted the complete game win, allowing two earned runs on 11 hits with seven strikeouts, while going 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBI.  Canessa was 1-for-2 with a pair of runs scored to bring her hit streak to five games to start the season.
 
The Fordham softball team will now get set to travel to Greenville, North Carolina, for the Pirate Clash, hosted by East Carolina, February 17-19.