Macon, Ga. – The Fordham softball team fell in both of its Saturday contests on day two of the Mercer Bears Classic. The Rams lost a tight 3-1 game to Connecticut in the morning and to the hosts, 14-7, in the early afternoon. With the day's results, Fordham moves to 7-14 on the year.
Game one was a low-scoring affair between the Huskies and Rams that saw the former plate the go-ahead run in the first inning against
Madie Aughinbaugh. Briana Marcelino led off the game with a solo home run and Ashley Esty scored on an error by
Jordy Storm. Aughinbaugh settled down after that, giving up just one more run, a solo home run, in the sixth before handing the ball over to
Makenzie McGrath, who tossed a perfect frame in relief. Held to just a pair of singles to this point, Fordham threatened in the fifth with back-to-back doubles by
Rachel Hubertus and Aughinbaugh, the latter scoring the sophomore. However, Katie Koshes was about to get out of the jam. Hubertus singled to lead off the seventh but again Koshes worked out of trouble with three straight outs.
Game two could not have been any more different, featuring 21 total runs and all seven Fordham runs coming on five home runs, including
Jordy Storm's first multi-home run game and
Sarah Taffet's first career home run.
Chelsea Skrepenak walked to lead off the game and Storm smoked a 1-1 offering to right center to put the visitors up early. Mercer struck for a run on a Danielle Castleberry home run in the first off starter
Anne Marie Prentiss but that was it for the Bears. Stella Preston worked around a
Molly Roark single for a clean second before Mercer scored five in the frame. Abby Walsh led off with a solo home run, Tori Ash hit a three-run home run to knock Prentiss out of the game, and Castleberry singled in Rood off McGrath.
The Rams struck back for three runs in the third to cut the deficit to one, 6-5. Storm took the first pitch she saw to right to drive in Skrepenak, who led off with a double, and Hubertus followed that up with her fifth dinger of the campaign two batters later, knocking Preston out of the game. Aughinbaugh and
Gianna Ranieri each singled off Bailey Pattison but she was able to escape further damage. Amanda Schwartz's two-run home run in the bottom-half of the inning proved to be the eventual game-winning run. Mercer added two runs in the fourth before Fordham's final runs came in the fifth on back-to-back home runs but Taffet and Roark, the former's first of her career and the latter's seventh of her campaign and 10
th of her Fordham career. The Rams threatened again with two two-out singles by
Maria Trivelpiece and Hubertus but Pattison induced a groundout from Aughinbaugh.
Every single Fordham batter tallied at least one hit. Hubertus, Roark, and Storm each had two, with Storm also walking in the game. All other players had one hit, with Skrepenak reaching once more via a walk, as well. Storm drove in four runs, while the other three were solo home runs.
The Rams wrap up the Mercer Classic tomorrow at 9 a.m. against Ball State.
