Softball Hosts Iona Tuesday, at Lehigh for Doubleheader Wednesday

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (29-9, 7-2 A-10) takes a break from its conference slate for three out-of-conference contests on Tuesday and Wednesday. First up is Iona (15-14, 5-1 MAAC) at home at 3 p.m., the make-up date of an originally scheduled road game from a month ago. The Rams will then head out to Lehigh (18-15, 8-1 PL) on Wednesday for a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m.
 
Links to follow along with all the action are above.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams traveled to George Mason this weekend riding a seven-game winning streak against the Patriots since the start of the 2015 season. Fordham enjoyed a Saturday doubleheader sweep before falling in the bottom of the seventh on a walk-off error on Sunday, failing to get to 30 wins by the end of the weekend.

Game one featured an atypical pitcher's duel in that there were eight runs scored. Lauren Quense and Marina Vitalich, the two pitchers in last year's All-Conference second team, each went the distance, nine innings, with all eight runs coming in the sixth and ninth innings. The two were locked in through five before each team put two on the board in the sixth, each with a two-run double. Fordham's came off the bat of Skylar Johnston, George Mason's from Erin Calpin. The Rams earned the win with a three-spot in the ninth, all unearned runs due to three separate errors. Madison Shaw's sacrifice fly would prove to be the different. The Patriots scored their run on a wild throwing error by Ally Vergona, allowing a bunt single to turn into a run. Game two featured another solid pitching performance from freshman Madison Aughinbaugh, who ripped a RBI single to kick off the scoring in the first, allowed a RBI double in the fourth, and was otherwise stellar, with just an unearned run in the seventh the only other blemish. The Rams, stifled in innings two through five, exploded for four runs in the sixth on three RBI singles from Jessica Hughes, Lindsay Mayer, and Shaw. Read more about the doubleheader, here.
 
Taylor Stocks took to the rubber in game three and tossed three frames of perfect ball before allowing her lone hit of the afternoon, a solo home run, to tie the game at one apiece, after Sydney Canessa had earlier scored Vergona on an infield single. Quense returned to the circle in relief the following inning but picked up her fifth loss of the year when an unearned run crossed the plate in the seventh coming after a misplayed grounder by fill-in shortstop Mayer. Read about it, here.
 
Series History vs. Iona
Fordham and Iona have faced off 48 times since 1985 and the Rams hold a 31-16-1 all-time advantage. The Gaels and Rams were MAAC members together from that point through the 1990 season, with Iona winning the first three meetings, the Rams winning the next four, and the two splitting the final regular season doubleheader in 1990. The two teams met twice in the conference tournament that year, with the Gaels winning in the first round, 8-1, but the Rams keeping their title hopes alive with a 7-5 win two games later, only to fall to Fairfield, 7-1, in the semi-finals. In recent years, it's been predominantly Fordham success, with wins in 18 wins in the last 23 contests since 2001, including a current stretch of four straight. Fordham defeated Iona, 1-0, in nine innings last year on the road with Stephanie Ferri's go-ahead double providing the difference.  
 
Series History vs. Lehigh
The Mountain Hawks hold a 17-11 all-time advantage since 1990, taking the bulk of the wins between then and 2001. After an eight year break in meetings, Fordham has won six of 10, including three straight since 2014, although Lehigh also rattled off four straight between 2012 and 2013. Fordham has seen the Mountain Hawks already this year, winning, 4-2, in the opening game of the Homewood Suites by Hilton RDU/RTP Invitational, hosted by N.C. State in early March. The Rams won all five contests that weekend.
 
NCAA Rankings
The Fordham softball team is enjoying one of its best statistical seasons through nine weeks of play and it is reflected in the Division I rankings. The Rams offense has scuffled slightly recently, dropping its team average down to .301, ranked 52^nd nationally and fourth in the program's history, after ranking first at .310 just two weeks ago. Fordham ranks 15^th in the country with an average of 6.32 runs scored per game, due to its high average, on-base percentage (.403 – 22^nd), slugging percentage (.471 – 30^th) , home run rate (0.89 – 36^th), and stolen base rate (1.82 – 31^th). Fordham has continued its terrific performances in the circle, though, with the 25^th-best ERA nationwide (1.95) and a very steady defense behind them (.969 – 51^st). The Rams rank first in the A-10 in all of the above except batting average, bested only by George Washington (.312).
 
Individually, Jessica Hughes and Madison Shaw continue their excellent seasons and remain among Division I's elites, plus Fordham's trio of pitchers are now making climbs up the leaderboards, as well. Hughes' struggles at the plate over her last few games has dipped her batting average to .400, ranked 107^th in the country, but she remains an on-base machine (.532 – 24^th) and is also top-40 in slugging, as well, ranked 38^th at .771. Her 81 total bases rank 45^th and second in the A-10, and her 1.06 runs per game rank 28^th and first, respectively. Shaw is 11^th in the nation with 46 runs batted in and her nine home runs rank 45^th. Hughes (18^th – 0.83), Quense (35^th – 0.72), and Canessa (70^th – 0.63) all rank in the top-70 in walks per contest. Canessa, just like last year, remains one of the tougher hitters to strike out. She, interestingly, has the exact total of walks and strikeouts as she did a year ago, 24 and six, respectively, and is ranked 88^th overall with a strikeout every 19.2 at-bats.  
 
Quense's 15 wins, two away from her personal-best set last year, rank 28^th in the country and first in the league, and her 1.72 ERA ranks 67^th. Right behind her in Stocks (79^th – 1.81) and Aughinbaugh (118^th – 2.10). Stocks ranks 28^th overall with just 4.34 hits allowed per seven innings, too.
 
Fordham at 51st in latest NCAA RPI
The Rams opened with an initial RPI ranking of 35^th three weeks ago but have since dropped 16 spots, despite only losing three contests between then and now. The losses have come against Hofstra (then 55^th) and Saint Joseph's (now 190) and George Mason (239). The Rams remain the top team in the northeast according to the rankings, however, but are just one ahead of Boston College.
 
Baylor, who the Rams defeated in the season opener, 1-0, is ranked ninth overall. The Rams have also defeated top-50 teams in Tulsa (30), Florida Atlantic (37), and Northwestern (50). You can check out the rankings here.
 
Leading Off
The Rams offense has been especially potent this season and a big part of that is leadoff hitters consistently reaching base. Jessica Hughes is one of the country's top leadoff hitters, batting .571 whenever leading off, although that's down from her absurd .632 average that she carried into this past weekend's series.  She's not the only one, as Sydney Canessa (.542), Lindsay Mayer (.407), and Madison Shaw (.393), all reach at an above average clip or better, as well as Van Hoven before her injury (.375). As a team, Fordham leadoff hitters have a .380 batting average (86-for-242) after going 6-for-23 over the weekend.

Patience is a Virtue
The Rams are one of the most patient teams in the country, racking up 163 walks already, just eight shy of fifth-most in a single season in school history, and are doing it more than they strike out, to boot, with just 153 strikeouts on the year. The walk total nearly doubles up Saint Louis' 99, next-most in the league.

Situational Stats
Other reasons for the Rams offense being so successful this year is driving in runners in scoring position. As a team, Fordham is batting .324 (129-for-398) with a runner on second, third, or both, and .329 (23-for-70) with the bases loaded. Also, with a runner on third and less than two outs, the Rams bat a blistering .558 (67-for-120).
 
Meanwhile, the pitchers hold opponents to an overall .221 average. Leadoff hitters do reach base at an above-average pace (.319) but the Rams are limiting opponents after to just .206 with runners on.
 
Quense Tosses 14^th No-Hitter in Program History
The senior hurler was lights out against Bryant on Sunday, February 19, tossing six innings of no-hit ball, allowing just a fourth-inning walk, plus a batter that reached on an error later in the contest, with three strikeouts. Quense became the fifth Ram to ever throw a no-hitter in program history. 
 
Keeping up with the Record Book
Canessa's two hits over the weekend move her out of a tie and into sole possession of fifth all-time with 220, now 13 back of Van Hoven. She continues her climb up several lists, already in the top-five in four-year batting average, at-bats, runs scored, doubles, total bases, walks, and sacrifice hits, and just outside in home runs, RBIs, and on-base percentage. In two appearances against the Patriots, Quense became the eighth Ram to reach 250 career strikeouts and her 1.72 ERA ranks eighth-best in a single season.
 
The 2017 Softball team currently has the fourth-highest batting average (.301) and third-best slugging percentage (.471), plus the fifth-best ERA (1.95), in the program's history, and its .969 fielding percentage also ranks fourth.
 
You can check out the record book, here.
 
Fordham Softball Archived Stories
It's been a very active first two months for the Fordham softball team, including 15 weekly A-10 awards, a no-hitter, and a 27-8 record through eight weeks. You can read all of the team's archived stories from this season and beyond, here.
 
Fordham Quick Facts
You can find this season's full schedule, roster, and quick facts, plus last year's season statistics, all here.
 
Fordham Picked to Successfully Defend A-10 Title
The Rams received nine of 10 first-place votes in the preseason coaches' poll, it was announced last week. Fordham has won four straight conference tournament titles and five of the last six, plus three regular season championships in the past six years, as well.
 
The Rams return all eight position player starters, losing only starting pitcher/DP Rachel Gillen. Second Teamer Lauren Quense returns for her senior campaign to anchor a staff that will include three freshmen. The Rams have six newcomers, five freshmen and one sophomore transfer, and will have one more underclassmen this season than upperclassmen.
 
Welcoming New Faces
The program welcomed six new players to the Bronx this season: pitchers Madison Aughinbaugh, Taylor Stocks, and Stephanie Rundlett, infielders Skylar Johnston and Brielle Cerchio, and outfielder Deanna Burbridge. You can read about the first four signing their NLIs last winter here. Aughinbaugh and Rundlett were named their respective states' Players of the Year. Head coach Bridget Orchard has also announced five recruits for the class of 2021 that have recently signed their NLIs.
 
Up Next
The Rams remain on the road for a three-game series at Massachusetts. Easter Sunday means a lone 3 p.m. Friday contest before the typical Saturday doubleheader beginning at noon.