Softball Travels to Stony Brook Thursday, Hosts St. Bonaventure for Saturday Doubleheader

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham softball team (20-3, 8-0) are riding high, carrying a 17-game win streak into this week's three nonconference contests. The Rams will travel to Stony Brook (17-7, 5-0) on Thursday for a 3 p.m. reversal of last week's meeting before returning to Bahoshy Field to host St. Bonaventure (0-14, 0-12) for a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon. Due to the nature of this season, the latter contests are considered out-of-conference with the Bonnies.
 
Last Time Out
You may have heard that sophomore Devon Miller threw two perfect games in her two starts against La Salle over the weekend. The Rams outscored the Explorers, 36-2, over 22 innings. Head over to the team's schedule page to read each day's recap here.
 
Series History vs. Stony Brook
Fordham's walk-off 10-6 win in nine innings last week at home evened the all-time series up at 3-3 since 2003. The two schools have traded wins since the rivalry began in 2003.  
 
Series History vs. St. Bonaventure
Fordham leads the all-time series with the Bonnies, 36-17, since joining the Atlantic 10 for the 1996 season. Because of the Atlantic 10 two-division set-up this year, these contests will be considered nonconference, the first such games in the series' history. Fordham is currently on a nine-game win streak dating back to a 2015 doubleheader, including a doubleheader sweep on the road two years ago by a combined 17-4 score.  
 
Dos Perfectos/National Pitcher of the Week
Devon Miller became just the third Ram to hurl a perfect game on Friday against La Salle, the seventh in program history, striking out 12 batters over five innings then duplicated that exact same line on Saturday in the series finale, becoming the second Ram to toss multiple perfect games in a career and in a season, joining two-time All-American and Fordham Hall of Famer Jen Mineau. As a result, the Chadds Ford, Pa. native was named the Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week in addition to her Atlantic 10 honors, as well, becoming the second Ram, after Mineau, to garner National accolades. Read about it here.
 
Pinto Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week
Senior captain Brianna Pinto earned her first Player of the Week honor this past Tuesday after helping lead the Rams to a 5-0 week, including a mammoth walk-off grand slam against Stony Brook, her first career home run. Read about her week here.
 
Nationally Speaking (as of 4/7)
The Rams continue their climb up the national leaderboards and as of Wednesday rank within the top100 in nearly every statistical category. Fordham is slashing .332/.425/.546 as a team, ranked 13^th, 13^th, and 25^th, respectively, in the country, and are 14^th with 7.09 runs scored per contest. The pitching staff has also cobbled together the 42^nd-best ERA in the nation, 2.27, and the defense is fielding at a .965 clip, which ranks 88^th.
 
At the individual level, Devon Miller's recent performances have pushed her to fifth with 12.4 strikeouts per seven innings and ninth with 3.05 hits allowed per seven. Her and Madie Aughinbaugh are 92^nd and 95^th, respectively, with 1.69 and 1.71 ERAs on the year. Miller is also 95^th with 73 strikeouts and 49^th with a 5.21 strikeout-to-walk ratio. At the plate, Michaela Carter is 33^rd nationally with her .450 batting average, just ahead of Brianna Pinto's mark of .422. Carter is also 73^rd with a .515 on-base percentage, while Rachel Hubertus is 58^th with 1.09 RBIs per game. On the basepaths, Pinto is 59^th with 13 stolen bases and is 47^th with 0.57 per contest, just ahead of Aughinbaugh's 0.50, ranked 70^th.
 
Aughinbaugh Climbing the Ranks
Madie Aughinbaugh's next start for the Rams will be the 100^th of her career, putting her in a group with just three others all-time. The fifth-year two-way stud is within or just outside the top-three in every pitching category in the Fordham record book, which you can check out here.
 
Pure Thievery
Brianna Pinto and Madie Aughinbaugh continue to race each other up the all-time stolen base ranks at Fordham with the former now seventh all-time with 45 for her career and the latter behind in eighth with 40. Pinto has been caught stealing just once in her entire career – as a freshman against St. Bonaventure and has successfully stolen a base on 35 straight attempts.

Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll
The Rams were picked to finish second in the annual preseason head coaches poll, just one point behind George Washington despite garnering one more first-place vote. The two schools were set to meet in the Championship final in 2019 but due to a rain out, the higher seed, Fordham, moved on to NCAA Regionals despite a share of the championship. It was the Rams' seventh straight league title, eighth overall, and ninth trip to Regionals.
 
Up Next
The Rams were originally scheduled to face UConn next Wednesday at Bahoshy Field but it has since been cancelled, though Fordham is looking for a replacement. Fordham will host Rhode Island the following weekend, April 17-18, for two straight doubleheaders starting at noon both days.