Softball in Salt Lake City for NCAA Regionals

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Salt Lake City, Utah – The Fordham softball team (45-15, 18-5 A-10) secured its fifth consecutive NCAA Regional berth with a dramatic Sunday at the Atlantic 10 Championship and have been selected to compete in the Salt Lake City Regional, hosted by nationally-ranked Utah, and also including Mississippi State and BYU. The Rams will play the #16/17 Utes on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. EST on ESPN3, as will every game in every Regional.
 
Fans can watch live on ESPN3, listen with WFUV, and follow along with the live stats via the links above.  
 
Last Time Out
After cruising through their first two contests of the Atlantic 10 Championship, the Rams found themselves three outs away from securing a fifth straight conference title on Sunday afternoon, 2-0, heading to the seventh inning. A walk, a hit, a sacrifice bunt, a sacrifice fly, and an infield single allowed Massachusetts to tie the game up and the Minutewomen plated the go-ahead run an inning later after the leadoff hitter reached third on a fielding error by Madie Aughinbaugh in right field. The run would score shortly thereafter to force the do-or-die game two.
 
Lauren Quense, who had started all three contests up to that point and gone the distance in all of them, took a seat for the freshman Aughinbaugh, who more than made up for her eighth inning error with a spectacularly gritty performance in the circle and her game-winning hit in the ninth. UMass scored an unearned run in the opening frame due to a two-out throwing error along the third base line by catcher Ally Vergona with Jenna Cozza caught in a rundown after aggressively rounding third on a base hit. The tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Meg Colleran, kept the Rams off the board for four frames until Sydney Canessa's clutch two-out RBI double to left center scored Aughinbaugh from first after the freshman had prolonged the inning by legging out an infield single.
 
Aughinbaugh allowed 13 total hits, with the Minutewomen reaching base at least once in all nine frames besidse a two-strikeout clean second inning, but the rookie consistently battled back as well as the help from her defense behind her, to keep the game knotted at one-all. Amy Van Hoven, who missed a month of action due to a broken leg, singled to lead off the inning and Chelsea Skrepenak followed with a single to right. Quense, who had entered the game earlier as a pinch hitter and moved to first, shifting Madi Shaw into emergency right field duty, reached on a fielder's choice, and Aughinbaugh punched a 0-1 offering down the right field line to score Skrepenak and secure the championship.
 
Read all about Sunday's dramatics, here.
 
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.
 
In addition, a record-tying five Rams were named to the All-A-10 Championship squad: Aughinbaugh, Canessa, Hughes, Quense, and Shaw.
 
Series History vs. Regional Opponents
                - The Rams and Utes met once, in 2007, with Utah walking away victors, 3-0, on neutral ground.
                - Fordham fell to BYU in 2014 at the Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., 5-2. Current assistant coach Gabby Luety provided the offense with a late-inning two-run single, scoring Sydney Canessa. Also starting in the contest was Amy Van Hoven and Lauren Quense.
                - Mississippi State has prevailed twice, once in 2008 when ranked 21^st in the country, and again in 2013. The Bulldogs won in '08, 6-5, in eight innings in Starkville.
 
National/Conference Rankings
The Fordham softball team has enjoyed a record-setting season up to this point, breaking several all-time team statistics (which you can view in the Record Book, link below), and closing in on a couple others. The Rams also continue to be represented well both on the team and individual levels.
 
The offense has bumped its overall batting average to a program-record .311, ranked 24^th in the country, as well as its .410 on-base percentage and .479 slugging percentage, ranked first and third, respectively, in the program's history, and 15^th and 19^th, respectively, in the country. The Rams are the number 10 team in the country in scoring, with 6.28 runs per contest, and that is due to the aforementioned offense, plus a terrific home run rate (0.88 – 43^rd) and stolen base rate (1.42 – 52^nd). Fordham's success in the circle has also been massive, ranked 26^th in the country with a 2.04 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 23^rd in all of Division I.
 
The Ram rank fifth in the country with 255 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 60 games so far, third in the nation.  
 
Fordham is represented well at the individual level, too. Madi Shaw is up to 73 RBIs on the year, tied for most in program history, and keep her 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 44th in latest NCAA RPI
The Rams opened with an initial RPI ranking of 35th 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 42nd but fell six spots with the loss to St. John's home, despite the sweep at La Salle. After going 4-1 this past weekend and winning the Atlantic 10, the Rams find themselves ranked 44th. 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 10th overall. The Rams have also defeated top-75 teams in Tulsa (25), Saint Francis (51), Florida Atlantic (52), Northwestern (64), and Lehigh (72). 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 192. 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 nearly all of them.
 
Shaw Drives 'Em In
Junior Madison Shaw has tallied 73 RBIs thus far through 60 games, ranked fourth in the country and tied for most all-time in a single season in program history with Elise Fortier's 2014 mark. With the bases empty, Shaw bats a solid .348. However, with runners on, the Raynham, Mass. native bumps that up to .422 and with runners in scoring position, it's at .411. With the bases juiced, Shaw is 9-for-13 on the year (.692) and with a runner on third and less than two outs, Shaw has successfully driven in a teammate an incredible 21-of-24 times (.875). Shaw has driven in at least one teammate in 31 of 560 games and has set a program record, since the stat was first tracked a decade ago, with 21 multi-RBI games this year. Of the team's 341 RBIs this year, Shaw makes up 21.4%.
 
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.
 
Johnston Thriving Since Start of Conference Play
Skylar Johnston began her season slowly, making 26 starts over the first two months but batting just .194 with 12 hits in 62 at bats and nine walks and 10 strikeouts. She tallied just two extra-base hits in those games, a double and a home run, coming against Tulsa, a top-25 team in the RPI. After the calendar flipped to conference action, the freshman thrived to the tune of a .451/.513/.592 slash line in 21 A-10 games and four A-10 Championship contest, with 32 hits, including a critical home run on Sunday and seven doubles, plus 20 RBIs and nine walks compared to just three strikeouts in 71 at bats.
 
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 and Sydney Canessa are two of the country's top leadoff hitters, batting .541 and .481, respectively, whenever leading off. They're not the only ones, though, as Lindsay Mayer (.487), Skylar Johnston (.480), Madison Shaw (.421), and Van Hoven (.357) all reach at an above average clip or better, as well as) As a team, Fordham leadoff hitters have a .400 batting average (154-for-385) after going 6-for-23 in two games on Sunday.

Patience is a Virtue
The Rams are one of the most patient teams in the country, racking up  257 walks, fourth-most in the country, and by far the most in school history, and are still doing it more than they strikeout (244). Fordham's .410 on-base percentage as a whole ranks 15th 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 .320 (195-for-610) with a runner on second, third, or both, and .350 (42-for-120) with the bases loaded. Also, with a runner on third and less than two outs, the Rams bat a blistering .577 (109-for-189).
 
Meanwhile, the pitchers hold opponents to an overall .227 average. Leadoff hitters do reach base at an above-average pace (.318) but the Rams are limiting opponents after that to just .222 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 NCAA Regionals with @FordhamSoftball on Twitter and here at FordhamSports.com!