Newport News, Va. – The Fordham softball team wrapped up its regular season with a three-game sweep of La Salle over the weekend and one performance was rewarded with an Atlantic 10 weekly honor as freshman
Brianna Pinto was named Co-Rookie of the Week alongside Massachusetts' Kiara Oliver. Pinto becomes the second Fordham freshman after
Paige Rauch to earn the award this year.
Pinto has recently ascended into an every-game role for the Rams at second base after playing predominantly in the outfield through most of this campaign. The Franklin Square, N.Y. native started all four contests at second last week and slashed an identical .583/.583/.583 with a team-leading seven hits and four runs scored. Pinto tallied at least one hit in all four and two in three.
At St. John's in the nonconference finale, Pinto went 2-for-4 with a run driven in and a pair of runs scored. In the series opener against the Explorers on Saturday, Pinto went 2-for-2 with two more runs scored. In game two, Pinto reached just once but also stole second. In Sunday's series finale, the freshman speedster stole a pair of bases after reaching twice more, scoring once.
On the season, Pinto is batting .293 across 46 games and 26 starts, leads the Rams with 13 stolen bases, and is fifth on the team with 24 runs scored. She's turned it up a notch in conference play, too, by batting a team-high .406, albeit in just 11 starts, with 16 runs and nine stolen bases.
The Rams have earned the #2 seed and a first-round bye and await the winner of #3 Dayton and #6 George Washington on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
