Queens, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team picked up its eighth consecutive victory on Wednesday afternoon, and first on the road this season, 8-4, in five innings at St. John's. The game was called with one out in the top of the sixth due to heavy rain. With the win, the Rams will enter Atlantic 10 play this weekend with an 11-3 record through three weeks of action.
"I thought Mak did a good job containing some of St. John's big offensive threats and did a good job of hitting her spots, keeping them off-balance, and letting the defense play behind her." Head coach
Melissa Inouye said, "Our hitters stayed disciplined at the plate and worked a lot of walks and when we took our swings, I thought we hit the ball hard. Towards the end of the game, the rain affected the pitchers' accuracy, but the defense came up with some good plays to get us out of the last inning."
The Rams never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 6-0 lead through three frames before the Red Storm was able to get on the scoreboard. Fordham tacked on two more runs in the fifth before the hosts answered with three in the bottom half of the frame before the washout. Fordham did not strike out once in the game and tallied 12 walks, just one shy of matching the single-game program record. In fact,
Bailey Enoch had drawn a walk with one out in the sixth to do just that but had it wiped away once the game was called since the inning wasn't finished.
Makenzie McGrath made her first start of the year and picked up her first victory, limiting the Johnnies to one run over her first four innings before seeing two inherited runners score against Enoch in the fifth. The Rams got on the board first in the second with a bases-loaded walk. Senior
Brianna Pinto drew the five-pitch walk to score
Aubree Barney, her first of a career-high three RBIs on the day. Pinto also later provided the go-ahead runs with a two-run bases-loaded single to centerfield in the third to make a five-run game.
Julia Martine walked to lead off the third, stole second, and scored on
Rachel Hubertus' single to left. Hubertus then scored herself on
Bella Ayala's double to the left centerfield gap. Ayala and Barney each scored on Pinto's hit and
Michaela Carter, who was hit by a pitch, scored on a passed ball with two outs to make it 6-0. The Red Storm tacked one run on the board with a RBI single with one out but Mcgrath struck out her next batter and induced a flyout to escape a bases-loaded jam.
Five consecutive walks started the fifth inning for Fordham though only one person scored as
Kelly Bright was caught attempting to steal third. Hubertus drew a walk to score
Madie Aughinbaugh and
Sarah Taffet, who returned to the game to pinch run for
Devon Miller, who pinch hit for her and drew a four-pitch walk, scored on a wild pitch with two outs. St. John's scored three in the fifth on a fielder's choice and a two-run double.
McGrath struck out three Johnnies and was credited with three runs over four innings. Enoch allowed three baserunners but notched one strikeout and allowed one run in her lone inning of work. Fordham recorded just four hits in the game but 12 total walks and eight runs scored. Martine drew a career-high three, while Aughinbaugh and Barney each had two, the latter scoring a team-high two times.
Fordham begins Atlantic 10 play this weekend at Massachusetts for a four-game series. Friday's series opener will begin at 2 p.m., while each of the next two days, a doubleheader on Saturday and the series finale on Sunday, will begin at noon. Saturday's contests will be shown on ESPN+.
