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Fairfax, Va. – The Fordham softball team advanced to its fifth straight Atlantic 10 Championship with a 6-2 win over second-seeded Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon. The Rams will have two chances to secure a fifth straight A-10 title and trip to the NCAA Regionals and will play either the Minutewomen or Saint Joseph's on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on the A-10 Digital Network. With the win, Fordham improves to 44-14 on the year.
First Team All-Conference selection
Madi Shaw put the Rams on the board quickly with a booming first-inning RBI double over the head of left fielder Madison Gimpl and later added critical insurance runs in the fifth inning with a two-run single down the left field line, plating what would prove to be the game-winning run. The junior's three RBIs on the day gives her 73 on the year, which ties the single season program record, set by Elise Fortier in 2013.
Lauren Quense breezed through the first four frames before luck befell the Rams in the fifth, disallowing a Minutewomen run due to an untouched base. The senior bounced back to work out of a two-on two-out jam and tossed a clean sixth before allowing two late runs in the seventh en route to her 22
nd victory of the year and 16
th complete game.
That unsual fifth inning began with a groundout before Gimpl doubled into the right centerfield gap. She stumbled rounding third on Candace Denis' single and the third base umpire deemed her to have missed the bag altogether. Now with two outs and runners on second and third, after Erin Stacevicz had reached on an error by
Skylar Johnston, Quense was able to induce a fly out to left from Kaitlyn Stavinoha to end the threat.
Still holding that 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the inning, the Rams finally broke through for four runs.
Chelsea Skrepenak notched her second hit of the day by singling up the middle but was thrown out at second on
Madie Aughinbaugh's fielder's choice, the freshman beating out the throw. Aughinbaugh moved to third on
Sydney Canessa's double down the left field line and
Jessica Hughes walked to load the bases. Shaw stepped up and ripped a 0-2 pitch that hit off the first base bag and trickled into the outfield, scoring two. The floodgates opened a bit after that against Meg Colleran, with Johnston driving in Hughes with an infield single, and
Amy Van Hoven notching her first RBI of the weekend with a single to right center.
Aughinbaugh added a sixth the following inning all by herself, tallying her first career triple with a rope off the left field wall and scoring on a passed ball soon thereafter. The Minutewomen scored twice in the seventh inning, getting to Quense with a pair of walks and a two-run Stavinoha triple, but that was all.
Shaw and Skrepenak each enjoyed multi-hit games, going 2-for-3, with the former notching her 21
st multi-RBI game, as well. Aughinbaugh and Hughes each scored twice.
The Rams' opponent is still to be determined. Sunday's contest will only be shown live on the A-10 Digital Network.
