Philadelphia – Weather continues to disrupt the Fordham softball team's schedule as they were forced to complete game one, suspended on Friday due to rain, on Saturday and then play two more at Saint Joseph's. The Rams took the first two, 4-0 and 11-2, respectively, but the offense struggled in the series finale, 4-1. With the weekend's results, the Rams improve to 15-16 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
Friday's lone game featured a pitching duel between
Madie Aughinbaugh and Ashley Ventura. The latter allowed just one run over the first six frames, a first-inning sac fly off the bat of
Madi Shaw. Each subsequent inning involved a hit for each team until the top half of the sixth when the Rams went down in order. With one on and two outs in the bottom half, the rain started to fall and play was suspended. Nearly 22 hours later, Aughinbaugh completed her inning with a line out. Fordham's offense added three insurance runs on a two-run
Paige Rauch triple and a
Chelsea Skrepenak infield single. Aughinbaugh fired a scoreless seventh to preserve her sixth complete game and third shutout of the year.
Junior transfer
Molly Roark got the start at designated player in game two and launched a grand slam in the second inning, her second Fordham hit and first blast, giving Fordham all the offense it'd need. Aughinbaugh made another start and worked in and out of trouble over her first three frames until a run scored in the fourth ended her day. Rauch replaced her in the circle and allowed just one unearned run over her 3.2 frames to notch her seventh win of the year.
In the fifth inning,
Skylar Johnston and Shaw went back-to-back with solo home runs, their fifth and team-leading eighth, respectively. Saint Joseph's added its second run in the sixth on a pair of errors and a single but Rauch worked out of a one-out jam with a pair of pop-outs, the latter of which she caught herself on the run. The Rams put the result out of doubt with a five-spot in the top half of the seventh. Fordham loaded the bases and Kyle Michael doubled them all in, all with no outs. Two more runs followed on a single, an error, and a groundout.
Ventura was back for game three and bounced back with just one run on three hits allowed over her seven frames.
Lauren Quense got the start and kept the Hawks off the board until a three-spot in the fourth led to
Anne Marie Prentiss coming on in relief. Prentiss got that innings final out and tossed a scoreless fifth before Saint Joseph's tacked on one more in the sixth on a pair of hits. Prentiss also accounted for Fordham's lone run in the contest, notching her first career hit and RBI with a booming double to the left centerfield gap to score Roark from first.
The Rams have three nonconference contests in midweek, first hosting Binghamton on Tuesday afternoon with a 3:30 p.m. start time, then welcoming Lehigh to the Bronx with a doubleheader on Wednesday, starting at 3 p.m. Fordham then hosts George Mason next weekend for its first home conference series of the season.
