Softball Wins Fifth Straight Atlantic 10 Championship

Fairfax, Va. – It took five and a half hours and 17 innings between two games on Sunday afternoon at the George Mason Softball Complex, but the Fordham softball team secured its fifth straight, and sixth overall, Atlantic 10 Championship with a walk-off 2-1 victory in the ninth inning of game two. With the day's results, the Rams improve to 45-15 on the year. Announced on Sunday night, Fordham will play in the NCAA Regional, hosted by #11 Utah, and including Mississippi State and BYU. The Rams will play the Utes on Thursday night on ESPN3 at 8:30 p.m. EST.
 
Freshman Madie Aughinbaugh, making her first postseason appearance in the circle, allowed just one unearned run in the first inning but shut down the Minutewomen thereafter, tossing eight more scoreless frames for a personal-best total of nine, and delivered the day's biggest hit, punching a single down the right field line to score Chelsea Skrepenak from second base to cap the walk-off win.
 
Erin Stacevicz reached on a bunt single to lead off game two but she was out on Kaitlyn Stavinoha line out double play to first baseman Madi Shaw. Jenna Cozza doubled to right and scored on the following play on a throwing error by catcher Ally Vergona. Cozza advanced to third on Tara Klee's single to Lindsay Mayer at shortstop but rounded the base and was caught in a rundown, eventually scoring on the error. Aughinbaugh induced a groundout to limit the damage to one run.
 
The freshman rebounded with a clean second inning, including two strikeouts, but it was her only hitless inning in the game. UMass tallied 13 total hits and had at least one in every subsequent inning but Aughinbaugh and the Fordham defense would continue to work out of trouble. The Minutewomen put a player on second or third in five total frames.
 
Aughinbaugh's final line was one unearned run on 13 hits, tied for the most hits allowed by the Rams this year, with no walks and five strikeouts across nine full frames, a career-high. The win was her 17^th.
 
While the Minutewomen left 11 players on base throughout the contest, the Rams left seven on, including with runners in scoring position three times.  However, they broke through in the fifth inning via Sydney Canessa's clutch two-out RBI double to score Aughinbaugh all the way from first base. Aughinbaugh had reached on an infield single to prolong the inning and Canessa took a 0-2 pitch and ripped it into the left centerfield gap. Fordham was able to get Shaw to second base in the eighth after the junior had singled through the right side and pushed over on an error, but Lindsay Mayer's ground ball went right to the third base bag and Cozza was able to get the double play.
 
Stacvevicz notched her fourth hit of the game, a single up the middle, with one out in the ninth, but Aughinbaugh battled to induce two fly outs to get out of the inning. Fordham made its move in the ninth, with Amy Van Hoven's third hit of the game, a single to left, leading off the frame. Skrepenak singled to right on the first pitch she saw and advanced to second on Lauren Quense's fielder's choice, Van Hoven getting tagged out at third. The second pitch Aughinbaugh, the number nine hitter, saw she pushed down the right field line for the championship-clinching RBI double.
 
Both Shaw and Van Hoven each finished 3-for-4, with Aughinbaugh the other Ram to enjoy a multi-hit game, plus timely hits from Canessa and Skrepenak.
 
The day began well for Fordham, stranding Stavinoha at second base in the top of the first in game one and scoring the game's opening run on a Skylar Johnston groundout. Canessa walked to start the frame and aggressively moved to third on Shaw's single to center. The senior bolted for home on contact as Stavinoha opted to throw over to first for the sure out. Johnston later added what would turn out to be a vital insurance run with a booming line drive solo home run in the sixth inning that ricocheted off the left field foul pole.
 
Quense, who had started both of Fordham's previous games in this week's Championship, kept the Minutewomen off the board until the seventh inning. UMass left one runner on first in the second inning and threatened with two runners on in the third before Quense 13 consecutive batters heading into the seventh frame. Madison Gimpl walked on four pitches to open the frame and was pinch run for. Klee singled to right and the two runners moved over on Melissa Garcia's sacrifice bunt. Ashton Wince netted the team's first run with a sac fly to left, with Klee advancing to third on the throw home, and Candace Denis' two-out infield single tied the game at two apiece.
 
The Rams went down in order in the bottom of the seventh before UMass scored for the second consecutive inning, again on a sacrifice fly after Stavinoha was able to reach third base on an error by Aughinbaugh in right field, attempting to make a catch on the run. Cozza plated the go-ahead run with a drive out to left. The tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Meg Colleran, set Fordham down in order in the eighth to force a do-or-die game two.
 
Only four Rams were able to tally hits off Colleran. Quense' final line was three runs, two earned, on four hits and three walks over eight innings. The loss was the senior's ninth and the complete game was her 17^th.
 
Shaw led the way on Sunday with a team-high four hits in seven at bats, with just four Rams enjoying multi-hit days.
 
Aughinbaugh, Canessa, Jessica Hughes, Quense, and Shaw were named to the A-10 All-Championship Team.
 
Over the Rams' four games, Shaw again led the way with eight hits in 13 at bats (.615), including three doubles, and four RBI. Also driving in four teammates were Canessa and Johnston, who each hit one home run. In fact, Fordham had the only two home runs in the entire tournament. Canessa and Skrepenak each tallied five hits, with the former scoring a team-high five runs along with Hughes.
 
Lauren Quense, making three consecutive starts, went the distance in all three and allowed just six earned runs on 14 hits and 10 walks in 21.0 innings, striking out 10.
 
The Rams are headed to a fifth straight NCAA Regional and seventh overall in the program's history and will begin play at #11 Utah at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night.