Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham softball team finished its tournament this weekend with a flourish, dropping 21 runs on Detroit Mercy over just four innings to cap the three-day event with a 3-1 record, and giving head coach
Bridget Orchard 600 career victories in maroon and white. The Rams tied single-game records for most RBIs and doubles in a single contest on Sunday. For the season, the Rams improve to 9-15 with the win.
Sophomore
Madie Aughinbaugh made her third start of the weekend and made it three wins in three tries, firing five frames of two-hit ball with just one walk and a season-high seven punchouts. The Rams offense staked her to an 11-0 lead after one inning of play as the Titans went through three different pitchers in the frame.
Paige Rauch,
Chelsea Skrepenak, and
Skylar Johnston all walked to begin the frame and
Madi Shaw drew first blood with a single to right to score Rauch. Aughinbaugh reached on an error by the third baseman, scoring Skrepenak, and
Jordy Storm drew the RBI hit-by-pitch to make it three.
Kylie Michael then roped a double to right center to clear the bases to make it six and prompt Detroit Mercy's first change in the circle.
Deanna Burbridge singled Michael home and scored herself on Rauch's triple to right center. Skrepenak singled Rauch in, Johnston drew a walk, and Shaw doubled to right to score Skrepenak. Storm provided the final blow in the inning with her second run-scoring hits of the inning, a single to right to score Shaw.
The Rams added six more in the second on two hits, four walks, and a hit-by-pitch. Johnston was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score the first run, Shaw and Aughinbaugh each drew walks to plate the next two, Storm drove in two more with another single to right, and Michael capped it off with a RBI groundout. Johnston doubled in Rauch in the third for another run and the Rams went to their bench for the final three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Brielle Cerchio recorded her first career hit by singling to third base, advancing
Molly Roark over to second, who had walked a batter before. Burbridge doubled Roark in and Rauch singled down the right field line to score the remaining two runners to cap the scoring at 21.
The quartet of Burbridge, Rauch, Shaw, and Storm each tallied two hits, with Rauch also walking three times and Shaw walking once. Skrepenak and Johnston each walked twice apiece. Rauch's four runs paced the team, while Shaw and Skrepenak each scored three times. Michael and Storm each drove in a career-high four runs to lead the team.
The 21 runs are the third-most in a single game in program history, behind last year's 23 runs at St. Bonaventure and 22 runs against Temple in 2007. The team's 21 RBIs are tied with both of those games for most all-time, while the six doubles are the fifth instance in a single game. Previously, Fordham had done it against Fairleigh Dickinson three times (2002, 2009, and 2011), and Manhattan in 2008.
