Softball at Mercer Classic this Weekend

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (6-12) is back in action after nearly two weeks away. The Rams will take part in their final preseason tournament at this weekend's Mercer Bears Classic in Macon, Ga. Fordham will play four games over two days: against Cleveland State (5-13) at 9 a.m. and Connecticut (4-12) at 11:15 a.m. on Friday, March 15^th and then Ball State (18-9) at 6 p.m. and South Dakota (16-12) at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday.
 
All of this weekend's contests won't be livestreamed but fans can still follow live stats via the links above.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams suffered two late-inning losses in a sweep at Georgia Tech last weekend to begin the I-75 Challenge and then split a doubleheader at Georgia State with identical 5-4 scores with each school rallying for its win in the seventh inning. Game one against the Yellow Jackets was a pitchers duel between Madie Aughinbaugh and Morgan Bruce, the duo firing five scoreless innings apiece before the hosts plated the game's lone run with a two-out RBI single in the sixth. Aughinbaugh allowed just the one run on six hits, walking none, with five strikeouts. Offensively, Maria Trivelpiece led the way with a single and a walk. The Rams combined for 15 hits in game two but pushed across just three, leaving 11 on base. Fordham answered a three-run third inning with two runs then tied the game up in the sixth when Brianna Pinto singled home Deanna Burbridge, but the Yellow Jackets scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame.
 
Game one against Georgia State featured an exciting Fordham rally in the top of the seventh inning. Held scoreless to that point, the Rams began the seventh with a Gianna Ranieri walk and a Molly Roark single. Moved over via a groundout, the duo were driven in by Trivelpiece, followed by a Jordy Storm single to put two Rams back on. Chelsea Skrepenak promptly powered a three-run bomb to left to put Fordham up for good. Aughinbaugh produced a clean seventh to pick up her third complete game win of the season. Game two turned out to be the opposite, with the Panthers rallying in the seventh against Aughinbaugh, who came on in relief to start the frame.
 
Series Histories
Cleveland State – The two schools have met twice with each winning once. Cleveland State won, 2-1, in 1998, and the Rams won in nine innings, 2-1, in 2004.   
Connecticut – Fordham won the lone contest between the two northeast schools, 13-3, in six innings in 2005 on a neutral field.  
Ball State – The two schools have met just twice with each team winning once. Ball State won, 11-1, in 2010, while the Rams were victorious, 2-1, in 2017. Both were on neutral fields.
South Dakota – The two schools have never played each other before.
 
Atlantic 10 Ranks
Among their conference contemporaries, the Rams rank pretty highly. Chelsea Skrepenak has been on a tear to start her senior season and she ranks thusly: third in OBP (.515), fourth in average (.421) and walks (11), fifth in hits (24) and slugging percentage (.649), and sixth in runs (17), despite playing less games than most of the players around her. Classmate Molly Roark's power surge early in the year has her ranked second overall with six home runs and joint-fifth with 15 RBI, while Rachel Hubertus' four dingers ranks joint-third. Maria Trivelpiece's .345 average also ranks 12^th and her .413 OBP ranks 13^th. In the circle, Madie Aughinbaugh's seven complete games rank second and her 53 strikeouts rank joint-third.
 
Unfortunately, NCAA-wide statistics are down as of this writing.
 
Program Ranks
Junior tri-captain Madie Aughinbaugh continues her climb up the all-time pitching ranks. The Port Tobacco, Md. native currently sits eighth all-time with 37 wins, ninth with 80 appearances, eighth with 57 starts, joint-eighth with 34 complete games, 10^th with 238 strikeouts, and joint-fifth with 11 shutouts. Senior Chelsea Skrepenak is also on pace to join the record book in runs scored, walks, and stolen bases, and possibly a few others. Check out the softball record book HERE.
 
Hubertus Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week
The sophomore picked up her first career piece of hardware by being named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week two weeks ago. Hubertus earned the accolade with an eight-game hitting streak and slashing .464/.483/.821 overall over nine starts at the hot corner. She is second on the team with four home runs and third with 18 hits, 10 RBI, and nine runs. Read more 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
Following this weekend, the teams' 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 play at Stony Brook next Tuesday 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!