Hempstead, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team made it six straight wins with a tight 3-2 road win at RV/RV Hofstra on Wednesday afternoon, a game that originally been scheduled for March 14 but was postponed due to inclement weather. With the win, the Rams improve to 13-15 on the season, while the Pride fall to 18-8.
Fordham used RBI hits from
Madie Aughinbaugh and
Maria Trivelpiece and an eventual game-winning solo blast by
Chelsea Skrepenak to overcome Hofstra, who rallied late with one run apiece in the sixth and seventh frames. Freshman
Paige Rauch returned to the circle and went the distance, limiting the Pride to just two runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks, while striking out a pair to pick up her sixth win of the season.
The Rams offense put runners in scoring position in both the first two innings but couldn't drive in a run. Rauch singled to lead off the game and Skrepenak walked but Sarah Cornell worked out of the early jam by getting three straight outs. Similarly, in the second, Trivelpiece walked and both
Jordy Storm and
Deanna Burbridge singled to load the bases with one out but again Cornell worked out of it with a pair of pop-ups.
Cornell couldn't keep Fordham off the board in the third, though, as the Rams scored two with two outs. With
Madi Shaw on first via a walk, Aughinbaugh ripped a double over the head of the left fielder to score Shaw. The umpire ruled catcher's interference, giving her an error and ruling the two runs unearned in the inning. Trivelpiece followed that up with a full-count single to left center that drove in Aughinbaugh. Rauch worked out of a jam with runners on the corners in the bottom half of the inning.
Skrepenak provided what would be the difference in the game with a strong solo blast to left on a 2-2 count, her third in as many games. The Pride put a runner in scoring position due to an error for the second straight inning but Rauch again worked around it. Hofstra made a pitching change in the fifth, going to Sophie Dandola, who kept Fordham to just a hit and a walk over the final three frames, as the Pride offense began to make noise.
With one out in the sixth, Hofstra scored its first run of the game on an error by Burbridge in left, allowing Lydia Witkowski to score from first on a Courtney Scarpato single. Rauch got the final two outs with a runner in scoring position with a groundout and a pop-out. Michaela Transue got the Pride within one with a one-out solo shot to dead center but Rauch induced two fly-outs around a walk to finish the game.
Trivelpiece led the way by reaching in all three of her at-bats, singling and walking twice, while Rauch notched the team's lone multi-hit performance with a pair of singles. Four others tallied one hit apiece. Fordham's six-through-nine hitters all notched one hit.
Fordham continues conference action this weekend with a three-game series at Saint Joseph's, starting with a Friday noon doubleheader and then a Saturday one-off also at noon.
