On This Date: Baseball Wins 1987 ECAC Championship; Jack Coffey Day Celebrated at Fordham; Softball Awarded First NCAA Berth in 2010

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 17, 1987 – Box Score (PDF)  | Photo Gallery - The popular motto for building a team is to "trust the process".  That would be an accurate description for the Fordham baseball team in the mid-1980s under then-new head coach Dan "Skip" Gallagher. That trust would be rewarded fairly quickly, as after taking over in 1984, Gallagher brought in a stellar recruiting class in 1985 and made the 1986 ECAC Championship as an at-large team.  The payoff then came in 1987, as the Rams won the MAAC Championship and then went on to win four games in the ECAC Championship and capture the title and the Rams' first NCAA berth since 1953.
 
"We had talent all over the roster, and we were all the same type of player, and I think that's a credit to Skip (Dan Gallagher)," said pitcher Pete Harnisch, the 1987 MAAC Player of the Year for Fordham.  "I love him to death and he galvanized us into getting better every year culminating in the ECAC Championship and a trip to NCAAs."

 
Gallagher seemed to know early on in the 1987 season, that it could be a special one for his Rams.
 
"He taught us how to be adults and prepare us for life," said Scott Wasserfall, a senior pitcher on the 1987 team. "He knew what he had in us, and that first trip to Florida, where we played Indiana and then knocked off South Florida in extra innings, he was already calling it a turning point and we were only four games into the year."
 
Gallagher would be proven right, as Fordham ran through the 1987 season in dominant fashion, going 27-11 and winning the MAAC Championship and an automatic bid to the ECAC Championship as the top seed in New Britain, Connecticut.
 
In the ECAC Championship, each day saw a new hero emerge, as the Rams stepped up to the challenge right from the start, trailing Fairleigh Dickinson in game one, and seeing Harnisch leave the game early with a blister and cut on his finger.  Paul Darrigo came in for three innings of relief, followed by Wasserfall, who was scheduled to start game two, for the final two innings, keeping the Rams in the game, trailing 7-5.  Fordham then pulled out a ninth inning rally, getting a three-run walk-off home run by Brad Howland to win the game, 8-7.
 
"We all went crazy," said Harnisch.

After getting the win in relief against Fairleigh Dickinson, Wasserfall was back on the bump for game two against a rival in New York Tech coached by Bob Hirschfield, and right from the start it was a battle.  The Rams scored twice in the third, as Jerry Curley and Gene Cunningham each drove in a run, while the Bears scored once in the fifth for a 2-1 score.  Wasserfall battled his way into the ninth inning, but the first two runners reached base and Fordham went to Darrigo to close out the game.  After an error loaded the bases, Darrigo got a strikeout and a double play to record the save, as Wasserfall earned his sixth win of the year and second of the championship, allowing one run and striking out five.
 
"That season, that title, is still the most fun I ever had playing baseball," said Wasserfall.

 
Day three saw Fordham take care of C.W. Post by an 8-4 score behind a good performance from starting pitcher Artie McCormack, who went eight-plus innings with five strikeouts to record his seventh win of the year.  The Rams' offense knocked out 16 hits in the ballgame with Kevin Condon going 4-for-5 with a pair of runs scored, while Tom McManus and Curley each had three hits with Curley driving in four runs.
 
In the title game against New York Tech, where the Bears needed to win twice to take the championship, Harnisch, despite the issue with his finger, came back on two days rest to throw a complete game five-hitter with 13 strikeouts to earn a 5-1 win and the ECAC Championship.  Jack Allen was the offensive star, going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI, while Tom Levy was 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI.   
 
"I was back on the hill, and before the game, myself, Scott (Wasserfall) and pitching coach Mike Bruhert had to figure out what was going to be effective with how my finger was.  We figured out a gameplan with a lot of two-seamers and finished with a win and that celebration was the best feeling ever," said Harnisch.
 
The 1987 squad, which featured seven Fordham Athletics Hall of Famers, went on to finish 33-13 that season and advanced the NCAA Regional in Atlanta, Georgia, which will be featured later this week.
 
"All of those guys are brothers to me, so much fun and so many personalities.  We are as tight today as we were then," said Harnisch.
 
 
May 17, 1947/1958 – Photo Gallery - One of the most synonymous names with Fordham Athletics is Jack Coffey, and not once, but twice was honored with Jack Coffey Day on the Rose Hill campus, first in 1947 and then in 1958 when he retired from coaching.  Presented with a number of gifts at each edition, the Rams presented the most rewarding gift later in those afternoons – wins on the diamond.   In 1947, he would lead the Rams to an 18-7 upset win over Metropolitan Champion NYU, while the 1958 edition saw the Rams capture a 14-7 win over Manhattan in his final home game.
 
A 1910 graduate of Fordham who later earned his Law degree from Fordham as well, Coffey had Maroon & White flowing through his veins over the course of six decades, serving as a player, coach, mentor, and Graduate Manager of Athletics throughout his tenure.  He directed the baseball team to five Eastern titles while producing such outstanding major leaguers as Hank Borowy, Babe Young and Johnny Murphy among others. He is the all-time winningest baseball coach in Fordham history winning over 70% of the games he coached.
 
With Coffey as Graduate Manager of Athletics, Fordham pushed forward to national prominence in other fields of sports besides baseball, notably in football, track and basketball.  Under his guidance, Fordham football squads appeared in the Sugar and Cotton Bowls, while Maroon basketball teams participated in both the NCAA and National Invitation Tournament twice.
 
Coffey was elected to the Helms Foundation Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954 and was also among the first class of inductees to the Fordham University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1971.
 
The baseball field was named in his honor in 1954 and when Fordham restored football in 1964, the football Rams also called Coffey Field home and still do today along with the soccer teams.  The plaque dedicated that day in 1954 summed up what Jack Coffey meant to Fordham and to Fordham alumni.  It hails the pensioner as "A true sportsman scholar and Christian gentleman."
 
Fordham Athletics still honors the memory of Coffey each year with the presentation of the Jack Coffey Award at the annual Block F Awards, which is presented to a Fordham administrator, alumnus or coach for outstanding contributions and dedication to the athletic program.  This year that award will be announced on May 26^th.
 
 
 
May 17, 2010 – Photo Gallery - Though their first Atlantic 10 Championship would have to wait one more season, the Fordham Rams made school history in 2010, as they were selected to their first-ever NCAA Softball Championship as an at-large bid.  Fordham was placed in the College Park Regional against the University of Maryland in the first round of the Regional, while #14 national seed Oklahoma and Syracuse comprised the other half of the bracket.

With a record of 47-10 to that point, Fordham was among 11 teams to make its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2010, claiming one of the 34 at-large bids after finishing runner-up at the A-10 Championship.

The Fordham softball team along with family, friends and media gathered at Dagger John's in the McGinley Center to watch the selection show, which aired live on ESPNU. Head Coach Bridget Orchard was one of the featured coaches on the national broadcast, as she was interviewed by host Cara Capuano and analysts Cheri Kempf and Michele Smith.

The Softball Rams became only the second ever women's team in school history to make an NCAA Championship, joining the women's basketball team, which received an automatic bid in 1994 as the Patriot League Champions.

It also marked only the second time the Atlantic 10 Conference had two teams in the NCAA Softball Championship. The only other time was 2004, with Massachusetts getting an at-large bid, while Temple received the automatic bid. Besides Temple in 2004, UMass had been the only school from the A-10 to represent the league at the NCAA Championship since 1994.

Fordham was successful all season, ending with an RPI of 30, a school record of 49 wins, and two wins in the Regional, among a collection of individual and Atlantic 10 Championship records. The Rams also received votes in the national top 25 polls since March 2 of that season. Fordham also had a school record 21-game winning streak during the course of the season.