Softball Sweeps Saint Joseph's in Good Friday Doubleheader

Highlights

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team kept its recent momentum with its eighth and ninth consecutive wins on Friday, sweeping the day's doubleheader behind two stellar pitching performances by Madie Aughinbaugh and Makenzie McGrath. The Rams walked away winners of 3-1 and 2-1 games. With the wins, Fordham climbs above .500 to 21-20 overall and 13-3 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Hawks fall to 21-18 and 9-5, respectively.

"Two hard-fought wins today as everyone contributed in some capacity," Head coach Melissa Inouye said, "We did a good job of hitting with two outs and we got two excellent complete games from Aughie and Mak. We did a good job defensively, making some key plays late to hang on in game two."
 
Aughinbaugh fired her 15^th complete game of the year with just one run allowed on five hits and no walks with five strikeouts to pick up her 12^th win of the season. McGrath coasted through six innings with just two hits allowed before encountering some trouble in the seventh, but pitched her way out of it to record her first career complete game, allowing just one unearned run on four hits and a walk, with two strikeouts.
 
The Rams never trailed in either contest, although game one was tied briefly in the fourth. Rachel Hubertus kicked off the day's scoring with a single to bring home Chelsea Skrepenak, who singled and advanced to second on a throwing error. Aughinbaugh and Ashley Ventura exchanged scoreless frames until the fourth when Molly Kapala tied the game with a solo home run. Caela Abadie nearly made it two straight but Maria Trivelpiece robbed her at the top of the wall to end the inning. The Rams wasted no time in retaking the lead as Roark singled through the left side, was replaced on first by Anne Marie Prentiss, who moved to third on a pair of groundouts, and scored on Kylie Michael's single to left center. Jordy Storm mashed an opposite-field solo home run in the fifth to add a second insurance run that Aughinbaugh ultimately didn't need, her ninth of the year. Seven different Rams tallied one hit.
 
McGrath's longest outing of the year to-date had been five innings, twice, one a start and the other in relief. Making her second career start on Friday, the freshman went the distance and nearly tossed a shutout. McGrath worked out of trouble in the first as she dealt with the first two Hawks reaching base, but the Dumont, N.J. native battled back with three straight outs, including a strikeout swinging of Abadie. After a clean second, the Rams struck first in the bottom of the frame. Aughinbaugh led off with a booming double to the left centerfield gap, moved to third on a Maria Trivelpiece single, and scored on Michael's sacrifice fly to right. McGrath allowed just one baserunner over her next four frames, a single in the third, before Fordham added the eventual game-winning run in the sixth.
 
Brianna Pinto, who had entered the game for Storm, led off with a bunt single. The sophomore scored all the way from first on Aughinbaugh's second two-bagger of the game, another rocket to left center. Saint Joseph's started off the seventh well and looked poised to at least tie the game as Abadie led off with a double and came around to score on a single by Taylor Marinelli, who advanced to second on the throw home. With a runner in scoring position and no outs, McGrath battled and induced two foul outs and a groundout to wrap up the win.
 
The Rams and Hawks will finish up the series on Saturday at 2 p.m.