On This Date: Softball Wins Back-to-Back Atlantic 10 Championships

On This Date Presented by Belmont Realty
 
With the 2020 spring sports season canceled by the COVID-19 outbreak, we at Fordham have decided to dig back through our archives and provide our fans with content on some of the outstanding teams and student-athletes who have graced Rose Hill over the years
 
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May 10, 2014 – For the third time in four seasons and in back-to-back seasons, the Fordham Rams claimed the Atlantic 10 Softball Championship, downing Saint Louis, 11-0, in five innings in the championship game at Fordham's Bahoshy Field.
 
The championship secured the Rams fourth trip to the NCAA Championship in five seasons (2010, 2011, 2013, & 2014).
 
"We were a team on a mission that season," remembered Kayla Lombardo, the Rams' starting third baseman. "Hosting the A-10 Championship at home pretty much guaranteed that we were going to take advantage of the opportunity to play our most important games of the season on our favorite field."
 
The Rams jumped on Brianna Lore in the early going, as Sydney Canessa took the third pitch of the game out to left center for her sixth home run of the year, giving the Rams a 1-0 lead.  After Amy Van Hoven reached with a double to left in the next at bat, Gabby Luety brought her home a few batters later with an RBI-single to center.  

After Michele Daubman set down the Billikens in the top of the second, the Rams exploded for four runs in the home half of the frame, extending the lead to 6-0.  Paige Ortizled the inning off with a double to left and Brianna Ciuffi entered the game as a pinch runner.  Ciuffi moved to third on a Rachel Gillen ground out and came home on a Cora Ianiro single to right.  One out later, Van Hoven brought Ianiro home with a ground rule double to left center.  With Van Hoven 120 feet from home, Fortier ensured that she could take her time coming home, launching a ball deep to left and over the wall for her 19^th home run of the season and the 45th of her career to give Fordham a six-run lead.

 
The home run for Fortier tied her for first place on the Fordham career home run list with Jocelyn Dearborn ('11), a record she would eventually break in the NCAA Regional the following week.
 
The Rams then upped their production in the third, plating five runs to extend the lead to 11-0.  Luety launched career home run number 43 in the inning in the frame, while Canessa and Ianiro each brought home a pair of runs. 
 
Daubman closed the game out retiring 12 Billikens in a row and surrendering only two hits on the game to earn her 18^th win of the season.   
 
Ianiro and Canessa each registered two hits and three RBIs in the championship victory, while Fortier and Luety each drove in a pair to go with two hits.
 
"That was the best team I had the privilege of being on in my softball career. We were stacked in just about every way. There was no doubt in my mind at the start of that weekend that we were going to walk off of Bahoshy Field at the end of the tournament as repeat A-10 champions," said Lombardo.
 
Five Rams were named to the All-Championship Team in Daubman, Fortier, Luety, Lombardo, and Ianiro.  Daubman took home Most Outstanding Player honors, compiling a 3-0 record in the Championship with a 0.93 ERA over 16 innings of work.