Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham softball completed a two-day, four-game sweep of Maine on Sunday, downing the Black Bears, 5-2 and 9-3, winning all five contests this week, to improve to 10-3 on the year.
"A good outing by AP as she made some quality pitches, got some key strikeouts, and credit to Amanda for calling a solid game, plus Bailey for coming in and closing the door in a tight situation." Head coach
Melissa Inouye said, "Augie made some good adjustments and just got stronger as the game went on and held a scrappy lineup. We continued to have a lot of quality at-bats today and hit a lot of balls hard. We executed well with two outs and played good small ball in game two. The team did a great job competing all weekend in a long four-game series. We're looking forward to the next phase in our season."
The Rams picked up game three of the four-game series behind several individual efforts at the plate and a terrific performance in the circle by senior
Anne Marie Prentiss, and then rallied over the final three innings of the weekend finale as
Madie Aughinbaugh struck out a season-high 10 and moved to 6-0 on the year.
Game one began with a leadoff single for Maine but Prentiss struck out the next two batters swinging and avoided any damage. Fordham struck immediately in the home half of the inning through a
Sarah Taffet solo home run, her fourth of the season, and Prentiss again worked around a leadoff single in the second, striking out the final batter looking. A Taffet sac fly in the third made it a 2-0 game and, after another two-strikeout effort in the fourth from Prentiss, the Rams plated their final three runs on a Prentiss RBI double, scoring
Bella Ayala from first, and a two-run
Brianna Pinto triple to the left centerfield gap. Maine finally got to Prentiss with a solo home run to lead off the fifth but the senior induced three straight outs thereafter and worked around an error that put a Black Bear on second with one out to complete six frames. Three straight singles with one out in the sixth spelled the end of the day for Prentiss, giving way to freshman
Bailey Enoch with a runner on first and second. Enoch induced a flyout and struck out the final batter looking to earn her first career save. Prentiss' six strikeouts were a new career-high and she earned her first win of the year.
The Black Bears struck first against Aughinbaugh in game two with a RBI double with one out in the opening frame. After two scoreless innings, the Rams evened things up through an error on a Taffet grounder, allowing Pinto to score. She and Aughinbaugh had led off the frame with singles. The tie didn't last long as Maines struck for two runs with a pair of solo home runs in the fourth but Aughinbaugh shut down the Black Bears from that point on. The deficit also didn't last long as Aughinbaugh herself evened things back up with a two-out, two-run single to score
Michaela Carter and Prentiss.
Fordham broke things open in the fifth. Day one hero
Julia Martine led off the frame with a single to right and stole second.
Rachel Hubertus drew a walk and Ayala sacrificed Martine and
Gigi Speer, running for Hubertus, over. Prentiss drew a walk as did
Aubree Barney, the latter providing the eventual game-winning run. Carter's single up the middle plated two more and forced a chance in the circle for the visitors. A wild pitch with two outs allowed Carter to score later in the frame. The Rams added two more in the sixth on a Hubertus RBI double to right center, scoring Martine, and another error at second, scoring Hubertus.
Aughinbaugh notched her third career double-digit strikeout performance over her seven innings, allowing just seven baserunners. Carter and Pinto led the offense on the day with four hits apiece while four different Rams enjoyed two RBIs apiece.
The Rams now head to nearby St. John's on Wednesday at 3 p.m. before beginning Atlantic 10 play with a four-game weekend series at Massachusetts.
