Softball Heads to the Atlantic 10 Championship

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (42-14, 18-5 A-10) enters this week's Atlantic 10 Championship as the #1 overall seed after clinching its second straight and fifth-ever regular season championship over the weekend. The Rams will look to make it five straight conference championships when they face Saint Louis, the only A-10 team they were not scheduled to face this season, on Thursday at 12 p.m. The winner will play at noon on Friday against Massachusetts or the winner of Saint Joseph's and George Mason. If Saint Louis loses, they will play again tomorrow, at 5 p.m., but if the Rams lose, they'll play at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
 
Fans can watch the A-10 Digital Network stream, listen with WFUV, and follow along with live stats, all via the links above.
 
Last Time Out
Fordham bounced back from a midweek loss to St. John's in the home finale to sweep La Salle in Philadelphia over the weekend, clinching the regular season title with a game two shutout, 11-0. Lauren Quense picked up win number 20 on the year with a complete game in game one, allowing just two solo home runs and a single, plus a walk, while striking out five. The offense gave her all the runs she'd need with a three-spot in the second inning, first on a two-run home run by Amy Van Hoven, her first hit as a starter since March 29, then on a Hughes sac fly. Lindsay Mayer would later add a solo home run in the sixth before a two-run moonshot off the bat of Hughes. After going 0-for-3 in game one, Madison Shaw bounced back with a monster game two, finishing 3-for-4 with two home runs, five RBI, and three runs, her third multi-homer game of the year. Shaw's two-run shot in the first inning would be all Madison Aughinbaugh needed, who one-hit the Explorers with no walks allowed and seven strikeouts across five frames. Hughes added another home run and scored three times. Read more about the doubleheader sweep, here.
 
The Rams rounded out the regular season with a 12-1 five-inning win on Sunday afternoon in the rain. The bottom of the order came through in the second inning, with Chelsea Skrepenak ripping a RBI double to the left centerfield gap to score Lindsay Mayer right before Aughinbaugh did the same to right center to score two. Taylor Stocks got the start and worked around a third-inning solo home run to limit the Explorers to two hits and the one run on three walks and two strikeouts en route to her sixth win of the year. Stephanie Rundlett came on in the fifth and allowed two baserunners but also struck out two swinging to get out of the mini-jam. Fordham put up eight runs in the fourth inning, first with Shaw's two-run single, then a Van Hoven RBI single, a Stocks bases loaded walk, and a booming Skrepenak grand slam, the first of the sophomore's career. Stephanie Ferri also delivered a run-scoring double in the fifth, a rip down the left field line to score Kylie Michael from second.
 
Fordham Earns 12 Postseason Conference Accolades
The Rams didn't match or exceed last year's record haul of 13 honors but they came very close, garnering 12, including Lauren Quense as the Co-Pitcher of the Year and head coach Bridget Orchard's seventh Coach of the Year honor. Fordham matched a program-best five First Team selections and placed three on the All-Rookie squad, also a first. Read all about it, here.
 
Series History vs. Saint Louis
Fordham holds an all-time 21-8 record since 2006, the year the Billikens entered the Atlantic 10. The Rams swept Saint Louis that season in the Bronx and won seven of the first eight contests in the series. The Rams have won eight of the last 11, however, including a series win last year in the Bronx, sweeping a Saturday doubleheader by a combined 15-1 score before falling, 6-0, in the series finale. The year before, the Billikens took two of three in Missouri before Fordham downed them, 5-1, at that year's A-10 Championship.
 
National/Conference Rankings
The Fordham softball team has completed a successful regular season, one that has already seen several records fall with others on the way, and the Rams continue to be represented across the top-100 in numerous categories, both as a team and at the individual level.   
 
The offense has bumped its overall batting average to a program-record .310, ranked 28^th in the country, as well as its .412 on-base percentage and .479 slugging percentage, ranked first and third, respectively, in the program's history, and 13^th and 21^st, respectively, in the country. The Rams are the number 10 team in the country in scoring, with 6.38 runs per contest, and that is due to the aforementioned offense, plus a terrific home run rate (0.91 – 37^th) and stolen base rate (1.52 – 40^th). Fordham's success in the circle has also been massive, ranked 29^th in the country with a 2.09 collective ERA, which ranks fifth all-time in school history. The Rams rank first in the Atlantic 10 in all of the above categories. That's also not to mention the team's .750 win percentage, tops in the league but also 22^nd in all of Division I.
 
The Ram rank fifth in the country with 247 walks, just behind national powers Louisiana, Auburn, and Florida and ahead of Alabama, Texas A&M, Arizona, and Minnesota. Fordham ranks seventh with 467 hits, behind just Minnesota, James Madison, Arizona, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Florida State. Of course, the Rams have also played 56 games so far, most in the country.
 
Fordham is represented well at the individual level, too. Madison Shaw' seven RBIs this weekend give her 69 on the year, second-most in program history, and move her up to fourth in the nation. Her 1.21 RBIs per game rate is up to seventh, while her five sacrifice flies rank 10^th. Hughes' .392 batting average sits just inside the top-100, at 95, but her 0.91 walks per game ranks 14^th which helps her 18^th-ranked .533 on-base percentage. The pair also rank 25^th and 29^th, respectively, with 119 and 116 total bases on the year. Sydney Canessa remains one of the toughest hitters in the country to strike out, doing so once every 19.3 at-bats this year, ranked 76^th in the country. Quense's 20 wins, a new personal-best, rank 31^st in the country and first in the league, and her 2.07 ERA ranks 101^st, just ahead of Madison Aughibaugh's 2.16 ERA, ranked 114^th. With the start on Sunday, Stocks' innings surpassed the requirement and she sits 43^rd overall with her 1.63 ERA, tops in the A-10.   
 
Fordham Up to 48nd in latest NCAA RPI
The Rams opened with an initial RPI ranking of 35^th one month ago before slipping down to around 45-51 for most of April. With the sweep of Dayton, the Rams bounced back up to 42^nd but fell six spots with the loss to St. John's, despite the sweep at La Salle. Fordham continues to be the top-ranked team in the northeast, ahead of Pittsburgh (if you consider them northeast), Saint Francis (Pa.) and Hofstra.
 
Baylor, who the Rams defeated in the season opener, 1-0, is ranked 10^th overall. The Rams have also defeated top-50 teams in Tulsa (28), Florida Atlantic (40). You can check out the rankings here.
 
Softball Lands Three on CoSIDA Academic All-District Team
Sydney Canessa, Jessica Hughes, and Lauren Quense were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team on Thursday, getting recognized for their efforts both on the field and in the classroom. The trio will have the chance to be named to one of three Academic All-America teams. Read all about it, here.
 
Canessa Breaking Records
The senior star centerfielder continues her climb up the all-time lists at Fordham and has just recently reached the summit of one of them, passing Allison Twarowski's record of 181 career runs scored two weekends ago, now with 187. Canessa, who shares the record for runs in a game, with five, and holds the record for most times being hit by a pitch in a game, with three, also set a new school record with six hits at St. Bonaventure in the team's record-setting 23-run performance three weeks ago. Canessa singled five times, hit a grand slam, and drove in a total of eight runs, a new career-high and one shy of the program record set by Beckah Wiggins in 2010. She recently became the third Ram to ever tally 100 walks. Incredibly, the senior finds herself in the top-10 of 15 all-time batting lists and in the top-five of most of them. 
 
Shaw Drives 'Em In
Junior Madison Shaw has tallied 69 RBIs thus far through 56 games, ranked top-five in the country and second-most all-time in a single season in program history, now just four back of Elise Fortier's 2014 tally of 73. With the bases empty, Shaw bats a solid .339. However, with runners on, the Raynham, Mass. native bumps that up to .396 and with runners in scoring position, it's at .406. With the bases juiced, Shaw is 8-for-12 on the year (.667) and with a runner on third and less than two outs, Shaw has successfully driven in a teammate an incredible 20-of-23 times (.870).
 
Shaw has driven in at least one teammate in 29 of 56 games and has set a program record, since the stat was first tracked a decade ago, with 20 multi-RBI games this year.
 
Hughes Walks Into Record Books
The standout sophomore broke the program's single-season steals record last year and ranks fourth this year, as well, in that category. She obviously carries a hefty batting average but her current .533 on-base percentage tells the full story of her ability to get on base. After walking 37 times as a freshman, ranked fourth in a single season, Hughes has just recently set the mark with 49 walks this campaign, six more than Elise Fortier's tally in 2013, and joint-eighth in the country. She is one of five underclassmen ranked among the nation's top-20 OBP leaders.
 
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 .561 whenever leading off, although that's down from her absurd .632 average that she carried four weeks ago. She's not the only one, as Skylar Johnston (.500), Lindsay Mayer (.486), Sydney Canessa (.479), and Madison Shaw (.400), 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 .402 batting average (143-for-356) after going 9-for-17 last weekend (.529) at La Salle.

Patience is a Virtue
The Rams are one of the most patient teams in the country, racking up  247 walks, fourth-most in the country, and by far the most in school history, and are still doing it more than they strikeout (231). Fordham's .412 on-base percentage as a whole ranks 13^th in the country and is the first time a Rams team has ever reached the .400 mark.
 
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 .323 (185-for-572) with a runner on second, third, or both, and .348 (40-for-115) with the bases loaded. Also, with a runner on third and less than two outs, the Rams bat a blistering .569 (103-for-181).
 
Meanwhile, the pitchers hold opponents to an overall .226 average. Leadoff hitters do reach base at an above-average pace (.322) but the Rams are limiting opponents after that to just .224 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
As has been mentioned several times already, several records have been broken this year and it is absolutely within the realm of possibility that a few more will fall before season's end. This extremely talented group of Rams continues their trek up the all-time ranks.
 
You can check it all out, here.
 
Fordham Softball Archived Stories
It's been a busy season, with 12 postseason accolades, 19 weekly A-10 awards, a no-hitter, four new school records, matching two others, and a 42-14 record as we head to the A-10 Championship. 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 four regular season championships in the past seven 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
Keep abreast of Fordham's opponents throughout the A-10 Championship with @FordhamSoftball on Twitter and here at FordhamSports.com!