Fort Myers, Fla. – The Fordham softball team made it three straight wins to finish the Florida Gulf Coast Spring Break Classic, taking down Michigan State, 3-1, on Sunday. With the win, the Rams improve to 4-11 overall.
"We played well as a team this weekend and executed the little things," Head coach
Melissa Inouye said, "It was nice to see everything come together as we've been in just about every game this season. Proud of our team for competing hard all weekend for each other."
Behind stellar pitching from
Devon Miller and
Madie Aughinbaugh and a go-ahead two-run home run by the latter, the Rams dispatched the Spartans. Miller ran into trouble in the first inning by loading the bases with one out but the freshman was unfazed, striking out her next batter and escaping the jam with a groundout to
Sarah Taffet. In the second, Aughinbaugh led off with a double but was left stranded, while
Amanda Carey erased a lead-off single by throwing the pinch runner out attempting to steal second.
The Rams put a runner in scoring position again in the third when
Gianna Ranieri doubled to left, but she was also left on base. In the bottom of the inning, the Spartans pushed across their lone run on a throwing error by Carey attempting to throw out a baserunner at second. Miller got out of the two-on jam with a flyout and lineout.
Fordham struck back immediately through its first two batters in the fourth. Taffet mashed her third triple of the year into the right centerfield gap and came home on Aughinbaugh's two-strike, two-run bomb to left. Michigan State again put a runner in scoring position with a double but Miller worked around it with a strikeout and another lineout to Taffet. The Rams plated their final run in the top of the seventh; Following Ranieri reaching on a fielder's choice and a
Brianna Pinto walk,
Julia Martine smacked a single to right to score the former, while the latter was thrown out in a rundown between first and second. In relief, Aughinbaugh allowed a one-out single and a two-out walk but ended the game with a swinging strikeout, her 14
th of the weekend.
Aughinbaugh and Pinto each reached twice in the contest, with the latter stealing her 10
th base of the year through just three weekends. Miller picked up her second victory, moving to 2-2, with six strikeouts and one unearned run over five frames. Aughinbaugh finished the weekend with a 1.24 ERA over three appearances and 17.0 innings, going the distance twice and notching her second save of the year. Pinto led the way offensively with a .333 average followed by Ranier, who hit .300, Martine, who hit .294, and Aughinbaugh, who hit .250.
"The pitching staff gave us a chance to win every game this weekend and the defense did a good job playing behind them," Inouye added, "Today we had a good pitching plan with Devon starting and the goal was for her to give us five innings and then have Aughie come in to close. They both made some quality pitches in key spots."
With her second out in the sixth inning on Sunday, Aughinbaugh surpassed former teammate
Lauren Quense ('18) for third all-time in innings pitched in program history, up to 551.2. Sarah Kinney ('07) is next at 770.0. Aughinbaugh also joined the all-time top-five in saves, up to five for her career, and broke a tie with Michele Daubman ('15) for third all-time with her 52
nd career win on Saturday.
