Softball Downs Massachusetts, 4-1, to Advance to Saturday's Final

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team inched closer to its sixth straight Atlantic 10 championship with a 4-1 win over Massachusetts in Friday's semifinal. With the victory, the Rams improved to 32-21 on the season and will play in Saturday's championship final with a game in hand, while UMass fell to 34-13 overall.
 
The Rams were swept by Massachusetts at Bahoshy Field two weekends ago, which started a four-game skid, but enacted revenge with a win on Friday. Madie Aughinbaugh made her second start in as many days and allowed just one run over her seven frames, while the Fordham offense took two leads and never trailed, piling up nine hits.
 
Facing off against the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year Kiara Oliver, the Rams threatened right away as Madi Shaw, inserted into the leadoff spot, drew a walk to start the game.

The senior surprised the Minutewomen with an aggressive steal to get into scoring position but was thrown out trying to score by Erin Stacevicz on Chelsea Skrepenak's single up the middle. Skrepenak stole second with Paige Rauch, who had walked, on third but Oliver was able to get out of the inning with a groundout.
 
The next hit by either team came with one out in the top of the third as Shaw doubled to shallow left field. She was able to score easily this time as Skylar Johnston smoked a single to the right centerfield gap. The next two batters, Rauch and Skrepenak, reached on a single and hit by pitch, respectively, the load the bases, but Oliver once again worked out of trouble. UMass responded immediately with a two-out single through the left side off the bat of Stacevicz, scoring Hannah Bunker.
 
It didn't take long for the "visitors" to break through, though, as Brianna Pinto knocked in the go-ahead run with a single to left field to score Aughinbaugh from second. Meg Colleran was brought in to replace Oliver but walked Shaw on four pitches to load the bases. After a fielder's choice, with Maria Trivelpiece getting thrown out at home, Rauch drew a walk to plate the team's second run of the frame. Colleran was then able to escape the jam with a pair of infield pop-ups.
 
UMass started each of the fourth and fifth frames off with a single but Aughinbaugh was able to wriggle out of trouble in the former while getting an assist from her defense in the latter. The Minutewomen started with two singles in the fifth but Jena Cozza's grounder to Shaw at third led to a race to the bag with the senior coming out on top to get the first out with the lead runner. Stacevicz followed with a frozen rope right at Rauch at short and the freshman quickly fired over to first to catch Cozza for the inning-ending double play.
 
Rauch then tacked on a final insurance run with a towering solo home run to straightaway centerfield with two outs in the sixth, her team-leading 15^th of the season. Aughinbaugh worked around a two-out single in the bottom half and tossed a perfect seventh to seal the victory.
 
Aughinbaugh and Rauch notched the team's two multi-hit games, while Rauch also reached twice more with a pair of walks, as did Shaw. Aughinbaugh allowed six hits and a walk but just the lone run for both her 15^th win and complete game of the year. Through two starts in two days, the sophomore has allowed just one run over 12 frames.
 
The Rams will play the winner of Massachusetts and Dayton on Saturday at 1 p.m. Should Fordham lose that game, a do-or-die game will take place right after to determine the 2018 Atlantic 10 champion.