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
May 13, 1939 – The baseball community began a yearlong celebration of the Centennial anniversary of the game in Cooperstown with the establishment of the National Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame. Beside the Museum is Doubleday Field, which after extensive renovations would hold a number of collegiate and professional games in 1939 to celebrate the national pastime.
As a part of the collegiate representation, the Fordham baseball team under the direction of Jack Coffey was one of the teams selected to play against fellow Jesuit institution Boston College in the "Centennial Game".
To little surprise, Coffey tabbed Fordham star pitcher Hank Borowy with the starting nod and would not disappoint, tossing a 5-0 shutout against the Eagles. Borowy had just taken the first loss of his career in his last appearance against Villanova just a week prior, but rebounded with a fantastic effort versus Boston College.
Overall, the Rams registered an 18-3 record for the 1939 campaign, but the story of the season was Borowy. Borowy finished the 1939 season with a 13-1 record and nine complete games in 16 appearances. He recorded three shutouts and 115 strikeouts in 108 innings pitched. He also ended the year as the Rams' top hitter, batting .383 with 14 runs scored, seven extra-base hits, and 14 RBI.
In just two seasons, Borowy certified himself as one of the greatest pitchers in Fordham baseball history, posting a 23-1 record with 188 strikeouts in 200 innings pitched. He also recorded five shutouts, one of which was a no-hitter against Rutgers in 1938. Over 80 years later, he is still among the Rams' all-time career leaders in wins (T3rd), complete games (3rd), shutouts (T3rd), and strikeouts (14
th), while his 13-win season and 115 strikeouts in 1939 are still the single season benchmarks.
Borowy was signed by the Yankees after the season, pitching parts of four seasons for New York, where he was an All-Star in 1944, before moving on to stints with the Chicago (N), Philadelphia (N), Pittsburgh, and Detroit. He pitched ten seasons in the majors, compiling 108 wins, and pitched in three World Series. Prior to the Cubs winning the World Series in 2016, he had been the last pitcher to win a World Series game for Chicago in 1945.
May 13, 2000 - It was almost a Cinderella story. A varsity 8 crew that included a novice forced into varsity action and two rowers who had just joined the team. But that crew came together and gelled at the right time, turning in one the most impressive Fordham varsity 8 performances at the Dad Vail Championship.
"I do have a lot of memories about that crew as it was very good but also unique in its make up," said head coach
Ted Bonanno. "Back then our teams were very small in numbers and because of that we did not race a varsity 8 at the Dad Vail the previous three years. We did race a varsity four in 97, 98, and 99 and won all three years."
In 2000, Bonanno was determined to row a varsity 8 at Dad Vails but it was a struggle. The Rams started the year with eight women rowers. Eventually someone quit and Bonanno drafted a novice to take her place. Then he lost another varsity rower and replaced her with Cindy Vojtech from the volleyball team. Vojtech had never rowed before and just learned the sport in Miami on the winter training trip. But there was more to come.
"We then lost another varsity rower and drafted Alex Chiurri from the swim team who also had never rowed before," said Bonanno. "She started right after spring break. Despite the team no being together for long, they ended up having a great season and their second place finish at the Dad Vail was a photo finish where they lost by a few inches."
Fordham opened the regatta by winning its heat, crossing the line almost seven seconds ahead of Minnesota, and then place second, just 0.29 seconds behind Villanova, in the next round to advance to the Grand Final.
In the Grand Final, Fordham was neck-and-neck with Saint Joseph's and when the two shells crossed the line it wasn't clear who won. The judges had to go to the photo which saw the Hawks' boat squeaking out the win by just 9/100th of a second.
The star of that crew was Sophie Namy, who stroked the varsity 8. Besides Namy, Vojtech, and Chiurri, the varsity 8 consisted of Amanda Fugle, Sofia Diana, Debbie Diana, Deidre O'Callahan, and Kristin Flynn, with Jason Williams at coxswain.
May 13, 2010 - There has only been one perfect game in Atlantic 10 Championship history and it happened on this date exactly 10 years ago by none other than Fordham Hall of Famer Jen Mineau. Then a sophomore and taking on third-seeded Charlotte in the Rams' opening game of the tournament, she struck out 12 49ers in a slim 1-0 victory in Amherst.
It wasn't even Mineau's first perfect game, either, that season or for her career. Her first was the first no-hitter of her career, doing so in five frames against Saint Peter's in March of her freshman year and she began her sophomore campaign with a seven-inning perfect game against Morehead State earlier in the year. In all, this was her fifth career no-hitter and third perfect game.
There had been three other no-hitters in Championship history but this was the first time a pitcher had been perfect and Mineau did it across seven frames. Fordham scored the game's only run in the bottom of the first frame. Junior Jocelyn Dearborn led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rookie of the Year Jamie LaBovick. Senior Erin Fisher came through with the go-ahead knock with a single to shallow center to score Dearborn. Mineau needed just 97 pitches to cruise through the Charlotte lineup and assisted the final out of the contest by inducing a weak ground ball.
With the win, Mineau improved to 31-5 on the year, while the Rams moved to 46-8 overall and advanced to the semifinals against top-seeded UMass. They would defeat the Minutewomen, 7-5, in that contest, but fell twice during a Saturday doubleheader to the hosts. Despite that, the team picked up the program's first-ever NCAA Regional berth and At-Large bid.
