Softball in Orlando for the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic

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Tournament Central
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (4-5) is in Orlando this weekend at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex for its annual participation in the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic. The Rams will play Morgan State (0-5), Iowa (3-6) twice, RV/RV Notre Dame (4-6), and UAB (5-5) over three days. First up will be Morgan State and Iowa on Friday at 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., respectively.
 
All five games will be broadcast on FloSoftball.com, which is a subscription-based service and can be found at the link above.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams struggled at UNLV's Rebel Challenge, taking one game out of four. Fordham defeated Utah Valley, 5-3, but fell to Seattle, Hawaii, and BYU. On day one, both the Redhawks and Rainbows jumped out to six-run leads in their respective first innings. Seattle was able to limit the Fordham offense to three runs, all coming in the fourth frame on a Madie Aughinbaugh solo home run, a Maria Trivelpiece RBI double, and a Rachel Hubertus RBI single, before enacting the run rule in the fifth. The Hawaii game was a nearly three-hour back-and-forth affair with several lead changes that ended 16-12. The Rams chipped away at an early deficit with multiple two-out rallies to take two late leads before Hawaii retook the lead for good. Hubertus' second home run of the day gave Fordham a 9-8 lead in the fourth inning and Molly Roark's two-run home run put them back up, 11-9.
 
Roark provided two more home runs in games three and four, giving her team the lead both times. The Wolverines took a 2-1 lead in the fifth but the Rams answered with a four spot in the sixth on a Kylie Michael RBI single, a Chelsea Skrepenak RBI double, and a two-run single off the bat of Jordy Storm. Roark and Hubertus went back-to-back with home runs in the first frame against BYU to stake the Rams to a 3-0 lead but the Cougars held the offense scoreless thereafter to take the weekend finale.
 
Hubertus led the way offensively with a .583/.583/1.167 slash line with a team-high seven hits plus two home runs, four runs scored, and four RBI. Michael and Skrepenak each batted .500 on the weekend and the offense hit .368 as a whole.

Hubertus Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week
The sophomore has enjoyed a hot start to her 2019 season and picked up her first career piece of hardware by being named this week's conference Player of the Week. On the year, Hubertus is riding an eight-game hitting streak and is slashing .464/.483/.821 overall over nine starts at the hot corner. She has a team-high 13 hits and her three home runs are second on the team. Read more here.
 
Series Histories
Morgan State – Fordham holds a 2-0 record over the Bears since 2002, both on neutral ground. Most recently, the Rams won, 9-2, in 2016.
Notre Dame – The Fighting Irish hold a 3-0 all-time record over the Rams since 2011. Most recently, Notre Dame, ranked 23^rd in the country, won, 7-3, in 2014.
UAB – The Blazers lead the all-time series, 3-1, since 2001. Fordham's lone win came on neutral ground with a 9-0 run-rule victory. More recently, UAB defeated the Rams, 2-0, in 2011.
Iowa – This will be the first-ever meeting between Fordham and Iowa.
 
Program Ranks
Madi Shaw and Lauren Quense left the program within the top-five of numerous all-time categories as one of the best hitters and pitchers in school history, respectively. As the 2019 season begins, one current player continues her climb up several lists in the record book – junior Madie Aughinbaugh. The Port Tobacco, Md. native currently sits eighth all-time with 36 wins, ninth with 73 appearances, 10^th with 52 starts, 10^th with 214 strikeouts, 10^th with 30 complete games, joint-fifth with 11 shutouts, and 11^th with a career 2.77 ERA. Senior Chelsea Skrepenak is also on pace to join the record book in runs scored and walks, and possibly a few others. Check out the softball record book HERE.
 
Fordham Announces Melissa Inouye as Head Coach
Replacing 17-year head coach Bridget Orchard this summer is former assistant coach Melissa Inouye, who spent the past six seasons at nearby Iona College, taking the Gaels to one NCAA Tournament and one NISC Tournament, the latter after a MAAC regular season championship. Inouye, a two-time MAAC Coach of the Year, brings along her assistant Matt Klampert to the same position and added former Dartmouth standout and Saint Francis graduate assistant coach Katie McEachern to her staff.
 
2019 Schedule
After this weekend's tournament, Fordham will participate in the I-75 Challenge, with doubleheaders at Georgia Tech and Georgia State, plus a one-off at Kennesaw State. Fordham will return home for its first contest of the year at Bahoshy against Lafayette on March 6^th at 3 p.m. before heading back south for the Mercer Classic in Macon, Ga. Following that final preseason tournament, the Rams will play at Stony Brook on March 19^th before conference play begins in earnest at George Washington on March 23^rd. See the entire schedule here.
 
Fordham Picked to Finish Second in Preseason Coaches' Poll
For the first time in seven years, the Rams have not been predicted by the league's coaches to finish atop the A-10 standings. Instead, Fordham has been picked to finish in a tie with Dayton for second. Read more about the annul preseason poll here.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Up Next
The Rams take part in the I-75 Challenge, with doubleheaders at Georgia Tech and Georgia State before a one-off at Kennesaw State, all starting on Friday, March 1^st at 1 p.m.  
 
Continue to keep up to date with the program on social media: @FordhamSoftball on Twitter and Instagram, and here at FordhamSports.com!