Softball at Stony Brook on Tuesday

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (7-15) has wrapped up its preseason tournament schedule and has one final nonconference road contest before the beginning of Atlantic 10 play this weekend. The Rams will travel to nearby Stony Brook (5-7) on Tuesday afternoon with first pitch set for 1 p.m.  
 
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Last Time Out
The Rams started off last weekend's Mercer Bears Classic with a 4-3 win over Ball State on Friday but fell in their next three contests to UConn, Mercer, and the Cardinals in a Sunday rematch. Fordham tallied just three hits and a walk in the opening contest but made them count, while also taking advantage of five Ball State errors. An error plated the game's first run when Julia Martine, running for Madie Aughinbaugh, was allowed to score in the fifth with two outs. Aughinbaugh, holding the Cardinals scoreless to that point, allowed a solo home run in the bottom-half of the frame to tie it, but the Rams went back ahead in the seventh on freshman Sarah Taffet's first career RBI, driving in Brianna Pinto, while plating the eventual winning run on a Maria Trivelpiece infield single. Against UConn on Saturday morning, the Huskies took an early 2-0 lead against Aughinbaugh, which proved to be the difference. The junior settled down after that but the Rams could conjure just one run on back-to-back singles by Rachel Hubertus and Aughinbaugh in the sixth.
 
Saturday afternoon's tilt against the hosts turned into an offensive explosion featuring 21 total runs with all seven Fordham runs coming on five home runs. Jordy Storm notched her first career multi-home run game with a pair of two-run shots in the opening two frames, both scoring Chelsea Skrepenak. Taffet socked her first career four-bagger along with Hubertus and Molly Roark, all three solo shots. Every Ram tallied at least one it in the contest. Gianna Ranieri made her first career start in the weekend finale but suffered the loss as Ball State run-ruled the Rams, 11-3, in six innings. Two more solo home runs came off the bats of Roark and Aughinbaugh.

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 three 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.
 
Series History
The all-time series with the Seawolves is tied, 2-2, since 2003. The two schools have traded wins with a split on the road in 2003, a home loss, 4-2, in 2008, and, most recently, a 13-0 five-inning victory in the Bronx two seasons ago. Madie Aughinbaugh made the start in that game, tossing two perfect frames with a strikeout and going 1-for-2 at the plate with a stolen base and a run scored, while Skrepenak went 2-for-2 with a RBI and a pair of runs.
 
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 (.494), average (.406), and walks (12), fifth in hits (28) and slugging percentage (.638), and sixth in runs (19). Classmate Molly Roark's power surge early in the year has her ranked second overall with eight home runs, double the tally of the next closest players, and fifth with 17 RBI, while Rachel Hubertus' five dingers rank third. Maria Trivelpiece's .328 average also ranks 14^th, with Hubertus just behind at .324, and her .403 OBP ranks 16^th. In the circle, Madie Aughinbaugh's seven complete games rank second and her 59 strikeouts rank third.
 
NCAA Ranks
One area the Rams have been successful in this year has been the long ball – the team ranks 45^th in the country with 0.95 round-trippers per game on the year, which tops the A-10. Molly Roark leads the way with eight bombs, ranked 32^nd in the nation, and 28^th with 0.36 per game. Both marks are second in the conference behind GW's Jenna Cone. The team is also 65^th with a 2.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 96^th with a .424 team slugging percentage. The squad is also 110^th in Division I with a .278 batting average. All three stats are second in the league, as well. Chelsea Skrepenak sits 112^th with a .494 on-base percentage.
 
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 82 appearances, eighth with 59 starts, joint-eighth with 34 complete games, ninth with 245 strikeouts, and joint-fifth with 11 shutouts. Senior Chelsea Skrepenak is also on pace to join the record book in runs scored and stolen bases, currently one back from the top-10 in the latter, 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
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 travel to George Washington to start league action with a three-game series. Both Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's series finale are set for 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!