Softball Hosts St. John's in Regular Season Home Finale

Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Twitter Updates @FordhamSoftball
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (39-13, 15-5 A-10) has won five of its last six Atlantic 10 contests, including a series sweep of Dayton this past weekend, and now host St. John's (27-15, 14-4 BIG EAST) on Wednesday afternoon at Bahoshy Field in the team's home finale.  
 
As always, fans can follow along with all the action tomorrow via the links above.  
 
Last Time Out
One of the most interesting aspects of this weekend's sweep of Dayton was that in the two walk-off 2-1 victories, the Rams tallied exactly nine hits, but in the 4-3 win it was just four hits. Fordham stranded plenty of runners but got the hits when it counted most and, in the one game they weren't consistently on base, the Rams needed just one swing. Of course, Fordham also got terrific performances in the circle in all three games, as well. Lauren Quense pitched in and out of trouble all game in the series opener, allowing nine hits but just one run to score, on a fourth-inning bases loaded walk to pinch hitter Julia Blarr. The Rams, stifled until the seventh by Dayton ace Manda Cash, broke through in the seventh when Sydney Canessa walked with two outs, moved to third on a Jessica Hughes single, and both scored on Madison Shaw's double down the right field line. In game two, it was Quense again that was instrumental, but this time it was her bat that did the damage, smacking a two-out opposite-way three-run home run in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead that wouldn't change the rest of the way. Freshman Madison Aughinbaugh allowed three runs in the opening two frames but settled down in the third and fourth, picking up her 15^th win of the year thanks to Quense's heroics, and Taylor Stocks garnered the team's first save of the year with three two-hit innings in relief. Read more about the doubleheader, here.
 
Sunday's series finale started off with a bang like game two, with each team tallying one run in the first. First baseman Katie Ryan got to Quense with a two-out solo shot, while reigning A-10 Rookie of the Week Skylar Johnston dropped in a RBI single to left, also with two outs.  Quense nearly went the distance, throwing 6.2 innings with seven hits and the one run allowed, plus no walks and three strikeouts, but was replaced by Stocks in the seventh with two outs and runners on second and third. Stocks struck out leadoff hitter Kailee Budicin swinging to end the threat and picked up her fifth win thanks to Shaw's RBI single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame. Interestingly, Shaw, who is batting .383 on the year, had just two hits on the weekend and both were of the walk-off variety. Read more about Sunday's win, here.
 
A-10 Championship Scenarios
As usual, the Atlantic 10 can go any number of ways heading into the final weekend. A regular season championship is the goal but finishing runner-up isn't a bad consolation prize, getting a first-round bye next week. For Fordham, just one win at La Salle will clinch that bye. The Rams and Massachusetts are currently tied atop the league standings, with a .750 win percentage, but with the Minutewomen having played four fewer conference contests due to rainouts. That could play to either team's advantage.
 
The Rams can clinch the #1 seed and their fifth regular season title by sweeping the Explorers and having UMass lose at least one game at Dayton, if both teams win two of three, or if both teams win one of three. There is some rain forecasted for the weekend so things could obviously get tricky. If both teams sweep their opponents, however, UMass would win the league because they would have one fewer loss, and they would also clinch the title if they win more games than the Rams this weekend.
 
Series History vs. St. John's
The Red Storm hold a 12-8 all-time series lead since 1985, Fordham's first year of competition. St. John's won 10 of the first 11 meetings between then and 1992 before a nine year break of competition. Since two games on neutral ground in 2003, Fordham has won seven of nine, including two in 2015 by a combined score of 11-0. The Rams downed the Red Storm, 3-0, in their opening game of the USF Presidents Day Weekend Tournament, then run-ruled their neighbors, 8-0, at home later in the season.
 
National/Conference Rankings
The Fordham softball team is nearing the end of its 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 individually.  
 
The offense has bumped its overall batting average to a program-record .313, ranked 26^th in the country, as well as its .413 on-base percentage and .476 slugging percentage, ranked first and third, respectively, in the program's history, and 13^th and 22^nd, respectively, in the country. The Rams are the number 10 team in the country in scoring, with 6.33 runs per contest, and that is due to the aforementioned offense, plus a terrific home run rate (0.85 – 46^th) and stolen base rate (1.62 – 37^th). Fordham's success in the circle has also been massive, ranked 33^rd in the country with a 2.11 collective ERA. 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, tied for tops in the league but also 25^th in Division I.
 
The Ram rank fifth in the country with 226 walks, just behind national powers Louisiana, Auburn, Florida and Florida State, and just ahead of Alabama, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. Fordham ranks eighth with 440 hits, behind just Minnesota, James Madison, Arizona, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida State, and Baylor. Of course, the Rams have played 52 games so far, the second-most in the country, behind only Saint Francis (Pa.) and tied with several of the aforementioned powers, plus McNeese State.
 
Fordham is represented well at the individual level, too. Madison Shaw's three RBIs this weekend give her 62 on the year, second-most in program history, but move her back from fifth last week to seventh this week. Her 1.19 RBI per game rate remains ninth, as do her five sacrifice flies. Hughes' .395 batting average sits at 95^th but her 0.92 walks per game ranks 13^th which helps her 16^th-ranked .538 on-base percentage. The pair also rank 31^st and 36^th, respectively, with 109 and 105 total bases on the year. Sydney Canessa remains one of the toughest hitters in the country to strike out, although she did once this weekend, moving back to 70^th in the nation with one every 20.4 at bats. Quense's 19 wins, a new personal-best, rank 32^nd in the country and first in the league, and her 1.99 ERA ranks 87^th.
 
Fordham Up to 42nd 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 have bounced back up to 42^nd overall. 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.
 
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 185. 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 two 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 several of them. 
 
Shaw Drives 'Em In
Junior Madison Shaw has tallied 59 RBIs thus far through 49 games, ranked top-five in the country and already third-most all-time in a single season in program history, now just one back of Beckah Wiggins' best mark in 2010. Elise Fortier's 2014 tally of 73 remains tops. With the bases empty, Shaw bats a solid .380. However, with runners on, the Raynham, Mass. native bumps that up to .404 and with runners in scoring position, it remains at .393 after getting no opportunities against the Colonials last weekend. With the bases juiced, Shaw is 7-for-11 on the year (.636) and with a runner on third and less than two outs, Shaw has successfully driven in a teammate 17-of-20 times (.850).
 
Shaw is currently riding an 11-game hitting streak despite snapping a seven-game stretch of driving in at least one run, which helped her secure her third Player of the Week honor a week ago. The three games against GW last weekend were just the 21^st to 23^rd games this season, out of 49, in which Shaw hasn't driven in a teammate.
 
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 .538 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 46 walks this campaign, three more than Elise Fortier's tally in 2013, and seventh in the country. She is the third-youngest player 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 .556 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 (.524), Sydney Canessa (.488), Lindsay Mayer (.441), Madison Shaw (.412), and) 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 .398 batting average (132-for-332) after going 11-for-20 last weekend (.550).

Patience is a Virtue
The Rams are one of the most patient teams in the country, racking up  226 walks, fifth-most in the country, and by far the most in school history, and are still doing it more than they strikeout (215). Fordham's .413 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 .322 (174-for-541) with a runner on second, third, or both, and .349 (37-for-106) with the bases loaded. Also, with a runner on third and less than two outs, the Rams bat a blistering .569 (95-for-167).
 
Meanwhile, the pitchers hold opponents to an overall .234 average. Leadoff hitters do reach base at an above-average pace (.325) but the Rams are limiting opponents after that to just .231 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 18 weekly A-10 awards, a no-hitter, four new school records, matching two others, and a 39-13 record as we enter May. 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 travel to La Salle for this weekend's regular season finale with a three-game set in Philadelphia.