Softball Preps For The Diamond 9 Citrus Classic II This Weekend

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (1-9) picked up its first win last weekend over Drake at the USF Tournament and marches on to the annual Diamond 9 Citrus Classic at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla. The Rams will take on Ball State, NR/RV Notre Dame, Robert Morris, Troy, and NR/RV Florida International over three days. First up is Ball State on Friday at 12 p.m.
 
Like the Mary Nutter Classic, every game will be streamed live on FloSoftball.com via the link above. Some games will have live stats, some won't, but each will have live in-game updates via twitter.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams went 1-4 at the USF tournament, falling to Bryant, 5-3, in the opener and, 7-4, to the hosts in game two last Friday. Fordham bounced back to down Drake, 5-4, in nine innings on Saturday but USF one-hit the offense shortly thereafter. The Rams wrapped up the weekend with a 5-2 defeat to Drake.
 
For the weekend, the offense was buoyed by Skylar Johnston and Paige Rauch. Johnston paced the squad with a .333/.375/.800 line with a pair of home runs, six runs batted in, two runs, a double, and one walk to no strikeouts, while Rauch launched two two-run home runs, added another triple, and came around to score a team-high four times. Madie Aughinbaugh, Kelly Bright, and Deanna Burbridge each tallied two hits, with the former and latter each scoring three times apiece.
 
In the circle, Rauch made her first career start and got her first career win by going the distance against Drake, allowing four unearned runs over nine frames on five hits and four walks with two strikeouts. Lauren Quense and Aughinbaugh made the other two starts, while Anne Marie Prentiss came out in relief on three occasions to post a 3.86 ERA over 4.2 innings.
 
Series History vs. This Weekend's Opponents
- Fordham and Ball State have met twice before and each school has won once. The Cardinals won, 11-1, in 2010, while Fordham took last year's contest, 2-1, at the Florida Atlantic tournament.
- The Fighting Irish have won all three contests in the all-time series, in 2011, 2012, and in 2014, the latter when they were ranked #23 in the country.
- Fordham defeated Robert Morris, 13-4, in five innings in 2007 in the series' lone contest.
- Fordham defeated Troy, 9-1, in five innings in 2014 in the series' lone contest.
- Florida International owns a 5-2 all-time advantage over the Rams since 2000, including last year's 4-2 result at the Florida Atlantic Tournament. The Rams won once each in 2009 and 2010.
 
Fordham Picked to Successfully Defend A-10 Title
Like a year ago, Fordham received nine of 10 possible first-place votes and 99 points from the league's head coaches and have thus been picked to successfully defend its Atlantic 10 championship for a sixth consecutive year. You can read more about that, here. The Rams have won five straight tournament titles and six of the last seven, plus five regular season titles, as well, in the past eight years.
 
Keeping up with the Record Book
As mentioned, 17 school records were broken or tied last year. Quense and Shaw continue their climbs up the all-time lists in their final campaigns in maroon and white. Check it all out, here.
 
Fordham Softball Archived Stories
Read up on Fordham's offseason turnover, season previews, game previews and recaps. 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.
 
Welcoming New Faces
The program welcomed seven new players to the Bronx this season, six freshmen and one transfer. Infielder Rachel Hubertus, infielder Brianna Pinto, pitcher Anne Marie Prentiss, pitcher/infielder Paige Rauch, and pitcher Gianna Ranieri were announced last November in the initial five-person class, while utility player Kelly Bright and JuCo transfer catcher Molly Roark were announced in June. Coach Orchard also revealed her initial five-player 2018 recruiting class this past fall.
 
Up Next
The Rams travel a little north to Tuscaloosa, home to the nationally-ranked Crimson Tide, for the Easton Crimson Classic. Fordham will play Alabama and Samford each twice on Friday and Saturday and then wrap things up with Boston College next Sunday morning.
 
Continue to keep up to date with the program on social media: @FordhamSoftball on Twitter and Instagram, and here at FordhamSports.com!