Amherst, Mass. – The top-seeded Fordham softball team fell in its opening game of the 2019 Atlantic 10 Championship on Thursday afternoon, 3-1, to fifth-seeded Saint Joseph's. The Rams await the results of the day's final two contests before finding out their opponents on Friday at 1:30 p.m. Fordham will play the winner of #6 Saint Louis and the loser of #2 Massachusetts and #3 George Washington. With the loss, the Rams fall to 26-24 overall.
Fordham started out brightly with a first-inning run coming on a booming RBI double off the bat of
Molly Roark. The senior drove in
Chelsea Skrepenak, who had led off with a walk and stolen second base, with a hard-hit ball to the right centerfield gap. The game quickly turned into a pitchers duel between
Madie Aughinbaugh and Ashley Ventura.
Saint Joseph's was able to tie the game in the fourth with a two-out RBI infield single with the bases loaded by Jancarla Herrera, scoring Molly Kapala. The Hawks threatened again in the fifth by putting their first two runners on with an error and an infield single, but Aughinbaugh induced a pop-up to herself and a groundout to
Sarah Taffet at short, getting the force out at third base, before inducing a flyout by Caela Abadie to left.
Aughinbaugh singled up the middle in the sixth with two outs and stole her second base of the season to give her team a chance but Ventura battled against
Maria Trivelpiece, getting the senior to groundout to end the threat. Saint Joseph's went ahead in the seventh following Amanda Kulp's lead-off triple. Aughinbaugh induced a weak groundout to third for the first out and the defense nearly got a second out when Kulp was caught in a rundown on the following groundout by Sarah Ostaszewski but Kulp beat out a tag and the Ostaszewski ran to second. Kapala's single through the left side put the Hawks ahead and an Abadie sacrifice fly gave Ventura a two-run cushion, although she needed just the first when retiring the Rams in order in the bottom half of the frame.
Ventura picked up the win with one run allowed on three hits and two walks with one strikeout. Aughinbaugh, who had allowed just three hits through six frames, finished with three runs allowed on five hits and three walks, while punching out four. The Rams totaled three hits and four errors on the day.
The loser of #2 Massachusetts and #3 George Washington will play #6 Saint Louis in the final game on Thursday. The winner of that contest will play the Rams tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
