Hughes Walks Off, Powers Softball to Doubleheader Sweep on Saturday

Box Score vs. Ball State | Box Score vs. Brown

Boca Raton, Fla. – The Fordham softball team swept Saturday's doubleheader on day two of the Florida Atlantic Tournament, but just the first games on the Owls' campus after playing two on Friday at Florida International. The Rams walked off 2-1 victors against Ball State thanks to Jessica Hughes' RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh and then dropped Brown, 13-2, via run-rule in five innings. With the results, Fordham improves to 18-5 on the season.
 
Lauren Quense picked up her 12^th win of the campaign by going the distance and allowing just one unearned run in the first inning, finishing with three hits allowed and two walks compared to three strikeouts. The Cardinals leadoff hitter, Labrador, reached on an error by Amy Van Hoven to start the game. After two quick outs, Lee singled to put two on and Wynn doubled to the left centerfield gap, scoring Labrador. However, Lee was gunned down at the plate on a throw from the relay, Van Hoven, to end the inning. After that, Quense settled in, allowing a hit and a pair of walks over her next six frames.
 
Fordham didn't waste any time evening the score; Sydney Canessa deposited a 2-2 offering over the leftfield fence to knot the game up at one-all. The offenses went silent after that until the bottom of the seventh, when Maria Trivelpiece, pinch-hitting for Morgan Figueroa, led off the frame with a walk. The next batter, Hughes, smacked a 1-2 pitch to deep center for the walk-off triple.
 
The offense turned it on against Brown in the nightcap, piling up 13 runs between the second and fourth innings. Taylor Stocks made her second start of the year and notched her first complete game, firing five innings with just two runs allowed, one earned,  on eight hits and no walks, while striking out a pair.
 
Fordham threatened in the first inning, when Hughes reached on an error, stole second, and Van Hoven singled to short. Canessa attempted a squeeze play but Hughes was thrown out at home and on the next play, so was Van Hoven at third. Madison Shaw grounded out to first to end the threat.
 
It was Hughes again with the big play and the go-ahead run herself in the second, homering on a 2-2 count with two outs to right center, scoring Figueroa and Quense for the 3-0 lead. The Rams added two more in the third, again with two outs, on a Quense two-run double down the left field line, before blowing things up with an eight-run fourth.
 
Figueroa started off with a single back to the pitcher on a 0-2 count and Hughes powered her second triple of the day to score her. Van Hoven singled to right to score Hughes and stole second, scoring a few pitches later on a double to left by Canessa. Skylar Johnston, pinch-hitting for Lindsay Mayer, was the first to face new pitcher Chieffallo, who relieved Nakashima, and walked on four pitches, as did the next batter, Shaw, to load the bases. Trivelpiece picked up a RBI with a groundout before Quense walked to re-load the bases. Orona came in for Chieffallo and forced a groundout out of Ally Vergona, scoring Johnston on the play, for the second out. Fordham would add three more on a wild pitch, a Hughes single, and an error in the field to lead, 13-0, after four innings, before the Bears tacked on two in the fifth.
 
Hughes led the offense on the day, batting 5-for-8 with a pair of triples, a home run, and six runs driven in, also falling just a double short of the cycle in game two. Shaw finished 2-for-4 with a triple of her own, while Van Hoven tallied three hits in seven at bats. Canessa and Quense each enjoyed a pair of hits in five at bats. Fordham walked 11 times compared to five strikeouts on the day.
 
The Rams will face Illinois State in one game tomorrow, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., although weather forecasts may delay the game. Stay up to date on twitter – @FordhamSoftball.