Newport News, Va. – In what should come as no surprise, sophomore pitcher
Devon Miller has been named the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week after tossing two identical perfect games this weekend against La Salle. Meanwhile, senior
Brianna Pinto garnered Player of the Week honors, as well. It's the first time they've each won this accolade in their careers.
"I'm happy for Bebe to get the recognition as she really did have a complete week, hitting for contact and power, producing runs, and running the bases. It's been fun watching her be more consistent this season and that's a credit to her trusting her ability to be a true triple threat." Head coach
Melissa Inouye said, "What an amazing memory for Devon and our team this weekend with two perfect games. Our program has had a lot of successful pitchers and to be just the third Ram to do this only emphasizes how special and historic her performance was. Her success and consistency is attributed to her hard work over the summer and winter breaks."
Senior captain Pinto enjoyed a terrific week at the plate, helping the Rams extend their win streak to 17 games in all competitions and eight in league play by slashing .467/.467/.800 over five games with five stolen bases, a team-high nine RBIs, and three runs scored. Pinto hit her first career home run in the midweek match-up with Stony Brook, a walk-off ninth-inning grand slam the opposite way, capping a 2-for-5 day at the plate.
Pinto followed that performance up by going 3-for-3 with a double, two stolen bases, and a run in the series opener against La Salle, drove in two and stole another base in game two, stole a fourth base in game three, and drove in two more with a double in game four. She is now up to 45 career stolen bases, seventh-most all-time in program history and has yet to be caught stealing this year. In fact, she's only been caught stealing once – back in her freshman season.
Miller, of course, threw the seventh and eighth perfect games in Fordham softball history against La Salle this weekend. She is the third Ram to achieve one and just the second to pitch multiple, joining former two-time All-American and Fordham Hall of Famer Jen Mineau. The sophomore out of Chadds Ford, Pa. faced the Explorers in the second game of each doubleheader on Friday and Saturday and put up identical stat lines - five innings, no baserunners allowed, and 12 strikeouts, totaling 24 over 10 for the weekend.
Miller improved to 5-2 on the year with a 1.69 ERA, and has now struck out a whopping 73 now over 41.1 innings, including four double-digit punchout performances, all in her last four appearances.
Fordham returns to action this Thursday in nonconference action at Stony Brook at 3 p.m. before hosting St. Bonaventure for a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday, although it will be considered nonconference due to the league being split up into divisions for this season due to COVID-19.
