Philadelphia, Pa. – The Fordham softball team kept cruising on Friday during its doubleheader sweep of La Salle to begin this weekend's four-game series. The Rams took game one, 7-0, before run-ruling the Explorers, 9-0, in five innings in game two. With the wins, Fordham improves to 27-5 overall and 10-0 in Atlantic 10 play.
With back-to-back two-hit shutouts from
Devon Miller and
Anne Marie Prentiss, the offense needed just two runs total on the day, but instead combined for 16, including five home runs, all with at least one runner on base. Redshirt junior
Rachel Hubertus enjoyed a career day at the plate, driving in a personal-best six runs in game one and nine total with three round-trippers, two coming in the series opener, while redshirt junior
Kelly Bright capped the day's scoring with her first career home run, a three-run shot in game two.
It actually took five innings before either team got on the scoreboard as Miller and Sarah Dowalo were locked in a dual, trading scoreless frames. Prior to the sixth, the Rams had put runners in scoring position twice and the Explorers just once.
Sarah Taffet walked to start the inning and
Julia Martine ripped a double down the left field line just moments before Taffet scored on a wild pitch for the go-ahead run. Hubertus promptly hit her first home run of the day out to left center. Four runs followed in the seventh on a two-out grand slam from Hubertus on a mammoth shot to right center. Prior to her at-bat, Prentiss had led off with a single,
Brianna Pinto had singled, and Taffet had drawn another walk to load the bases.
It took until the third in game two for the Rams to get on the board, with Hubertus providing the winning run on a sacrifice fly with the bases juiced to score Pinto. The next batter, freshman
Bella Ayala, crushed a three-run shot to left center for what turned out to be unnecessary insurance runs. The Explorers threated with their own bases loaded situation in the fourth with two outs but catcher
Amanda Carey picked off Tessa Dodson at third base just a couple pitches into the at-bat to help Prentiss escape the jam.
The Rams enacted the run rule in the fifth with five runs; Hubertus launched another bomb, scoring Taffet, with one out, and Bright smacked her first career four-bagger with two outs and two on. Prentiss worked a 1-2-3 fifth punctuated with a swinging strikeout, same as Miller in game one.
Hubertus finished 3-for-6 on the day with all three hits leaving the yard, nine RBIs, and three runs scored, while Pinto led the way with four hits in seven at-bats, scoring twice and stealing one base. Bright, Martine, and Prentiss each enjoyed one multi-hit game on the day, while Taffet singled and walked twice, scoring a team-high four times.
Miller and Prentiss had similar lines, both notching their third shutouts of the year. Miller allowed just two hits and three walks while striking out six over seven frames, while Prentiss struck out five with two hits and two walks over five innings to improve to 5-0 on the year. Miller improved to 9-2.
Fordham and La Salle complete the series with tomorrow's doubleheader beginning at noon on ESPN+.
