Bronx, N.Y. – Behind two more sterling pitching performances from
Madie Aughinbaugh and
Devon Miller, the Fordham softball team swept Binghamton on Wednesday afternoon at Bahoshy Field by scores of 4-0 and 3-1. With the wins, their fifth and sixth straight, the Rams improve to 31-5 on the year.
Miller got the ball in game one and shut the Binghamton offense down to the tune of just two hits allowed, no walks, and 12 strikeouts over seven full innings, her fifth shutout of the season and seventh double-digit strikeout effort. Aughinbaugh returned to the circle to start game two and allowed just one single over five frames, striking out nine, to pick up her team-leading 12
th win of the year before giving way to
Anne Marie Prentiss who closed out the day for her first career save.
It took the Rams three innings to get to game one starter Rayn Gibson and fifth innings in game two to crack Allison L'Amoreaux, though the offense had several chances throughout, finishing both games with a combined 17 players left on base. Fordham threatened from the start, with Aughinbaugh leading off game one with a single to right and eventually the bases becoming loaded with one out. In the second,
Brianna Pinto reached on an infield single and stole second but was left stranded. In the third, the hosts struck with a rare foul out sacrifice fly to right to score
Julia Martine. Fordham doubled its lead the next inning with a Martine RBI groundout to score
Michaela Carter and then doubled it again with a pair of RBI singles in the sixth off the bats of Martine and
Bailey Enoch. Miller needed just the first run, however, throwing just 79 pitches over her seven innings.
Aughinbaugh and L'Amoreaux were locked in a duel for four-and-a-half frames before the Rams got on the board in the bottom of the fifth and it was Pinto and Aughinbaugh who did the damage. Pinto singled to the pitcher, stole second, and scored on Aughinbaugh's single to right. It was that duo, plus Carter, again to do the damage as Carter and Pinto each singled with two outs and Aughinbaugh drove the 12
th pitch of her at-bat to center to score Carter. Pinto then scored easily on a wild pitch. The Bearcats did claw one back in the seventh on a sac fly against Prentiss, but the senior struck out Hannah Lyons right after to see things out.
Aughinbaugh and Pinto had two hits apiece in both ends of the doubleheader, while Enoch joined the pair in reaching base safely four times on the day, with a single and three walks. Carter and Martine each reached base three times,
Rachel Hubertus twice.
Pinto recorded her 25
th and 26
th steals of the year, moving up into a tie with Melissa Andrews ('09) for third-most in a single campaign, while increasing her career number to 58, one shy of Jessica Hughes ('17) in fourth. Aughinbaugh made her 103
rd career start for the Rams, breaking a tie with former teammate
Lauren Quense ('18), and picked up her 65
th win.
The Rams remain at home through the regular season and next host Massachusetts this weekend for a four-game series. Friday's opener is set for 3 p.m. and can be heard at WFUVSports.org.
