Softball Travels to Iona on Tuesday

Watch | Live Stats
Twitter Updates @FordhamSoftball
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (19-17, 8-1 A-10) is coming off a three-game sweep of George Mason over the weekend and is on a four-game winning stretch as it heads into Tuesday's out-of-conference road contest at Iona (13-14, 5-1 MAAC).
 
Ways to follow all the action are available via the links above.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams completed a three-game sweep of the visiting Patriots over the weekend by a combined score of 24-4. Fordham trailed just three times the entire weekend – when George Mason started the weekend's scoring with a fourth-inning RBI double, an unearned run, and briefly between the first and second frames of the series finale. Each time the Patriots took one of those leads, the Rams answered in the bottom half of the inning with at least one run. Skylar Johnston erased that first deficit with a solo home run to left centerfield and the Rams added three more in the fifth on a Chelsea Skrepenak two-run double and a Deanna Burbridge single. Sophomore Madie Aughinbaugh continued her stellar pitching with a complete game with just two unearned runs on five hits and a walk.
 
Saturday's game two brought Paige Rauch's first career shutout, limiting the Patriots to just two singles and two walks, while matching her season-high with six strikeouts. At the plate, the Rams enjoyed the first of two straight games with 10 runs, this time in five innings. Kylie Michael drove in Jordy Storm with a RBI single and Lauren Quense pushed a double down to the right field line to score her. Brianna Pinto stole third base and scored on a throwing error in the fourth before the hosts exploded for seven runs in the fifth on home runs by Rauch and Quense, the former driving in three and the latter being a dramatic walk-off grand slam, Quense's first round-tripper of the season. George Mason got off to a good start in Sunday's series finale, taking two leads in the first two innings with a sac fly and a RBI double but the first was erased by Johnston's second solo home run of the weekend and the second was gone on another Quense double, this one off the left field wall. Aughinbaugh followed that up with a two-run home run to dead center and Rauch went back-to-back with a blast to right. Rauch notched her first multi-homer game with a no-doubter to right to begin the scoring in the sixth inning and after four singles and a pair of walks, the Rams walked off winners again on two-run singles by Burbridge and then Aughinbaugh.  
 
Series History vs. Iona
In one of the program's longest-standing rivalries, the Rams lead the all-time series with the Gaels, 32-16-1 since the 1985 season when both schools competed in the MAAC until 1991. During those days, Fordham held a 6-5 record. Between 1991 and 2004, Fordham took 12 of 23, which included one 3-3 tie. Since, it's been all Rams, who have won 15 of the last 16 games in the series since 2006. Last year, Fordham won, 3-2. The Rams walked off on a Lindsay Mayer sacrifice fly and gave Aughinbaugh the win with her one clean inning of relief.
 
NCAA Ranks
As a team, the Rams rank within the top-100 in five categories: Fordham averages 0.92 dingers per contest (40^th), 5.19 runs per game (59^th), 0.22 triples per contest (68^th), has a .428 slugging percentage (82^nd), and a 2.11 K/BB ratio (83^rd). At the individual level, a few Rams are within the top-100. Rauch has been excellent at the plate and in the circle to begin her Fordham career and ranks 22^nd with four triples, 23^rd with 1.03 runs scored per contest, 27^th with 0.69 walks per game, 53^rd with her 1.64 ERA, and 67^th with 0.25 home runs per game. Skylar Johnston's 12 doubles per game ranks 30th and Madi Shaw's 0.25 home runs per game clip sits 68^th alongside Rauch. In the circle, Aughinbaugh's 5.07 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks 34th in the country, while the sophomore is tied for tops in all of Division I… with just one hit batter all year, tied with 17 others. Skrepenak's .398 batting average has her just outside the top-100, at 114^th.
 
Atlantic 10 Ranks
The Rams rank second with 33 home runs, third with 187 runs, third with 174 RBIs, and fourth with 251 hits. Fordham also tops the league with both 120 walks and 244 strikeouts. In the circle, the Rams' 3.09 team ERA ranks second over the third-most innings (233.2). Skrepenak's .394 average ranks fourth and her .452 on-base percentage ranks fifth. Right behind her in the latter top-10, at sixth and seventh are Rauch (.444) and Storm (.443). Rauch's .664 slugging percentage ranks fourth and is ahead of Johnston at eight (.595) and Skrepenak at nine (.585). Johnston leads the league with her 12 doubles, while Rauch leads the way and is the one of two A-10 players to walk 20 or more times (25). Her four triples and 37 runs are both second-most. Aughinbaugh's is one of three pitchers to reach 10 wins on the season and her 105.0 innings pitched are second-most, just the second player to hit the century mark thus far. Her 71 strikeouts rank fifth and her 3.07 ERA sits ninth, while Rauch's 1.64 ERA sits second-lowest just .08 behind Dayton's Manda Cash.
 
Coach Orchard Earns Win Number 600 in Maroon and White
Bridget Orchard celebrated her 700th career victory last season with a 7-0 shutout in game one of a doubleheader against Saint Joseph's last April 2nd and reached another milestone this past weekend at home, tallying her 600th win as Fordham head coach in style, with a 21-0 win over Detroit Mercy last Sunday. In her 17th season at the helm, Orchard has a 606-371 record in the Bronx.
 
Aughinbaugh Named Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week
The sophomore earned her first honor of the season after leading Fordham to three victories three weekends ago in the circle. Aughinbaugh made four appearances, including three starts, all of which she went the distance in. For the weekend, the Port Tobacco, Md. native compiled a 1.07 ERA over 19.2 innings with 20 strikeouts, with wins over UMass-Lowell, Seton Hall, and Detroit Mercy. Read more about it, here.

Rauch Named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week
Paige Rauch previously took home the program's first piece of hardware four weeks ago when she was named Rookie of the Week. She slashed .357/.500/1.000 at the plate with a pair of solo home runs, a team-high five walks and runs scored, and four runs driven in, and made four appearances in the circle, three starts, and walked away with a 3-1 record, allowing just six runs, five earned, on 13 hits and 10 walks across 21.2 innings (1.62 ERA), while striking out 14. Read more about Rauch's weekend, here.
 
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 to Rhode Island this weekend for a three-game series. As usual, Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon as will Sunday's series finale.  
 
Continue to keep up to date with the program on social media: @FordhamSoftball on Twitter and Instagram, and here at FordhamSports.com!