Softball Suffers Defeats on Day Two of A-10 Championship

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Philadelphia, Pa. – The Fordham softball team fell twice on day two of the Atlantic 10 Championship and were eliminated from contention. The Rams were defeated by fourth-seeded Dayton, 7-1, in their semifinal contest and then, 8-1, by top-seed George Washington in the consolation bracket right after. Fordham finishes things up with a 37-10 record, 17-3 in conference play.
 
For two innings of game one, Devon Miller and Addy Bullis were locked in a pitchers duel, including four straight strikeouts at one point for Miller between the second and third frame. Following that final punchout, Megan Gist was able to get to a Miller offering for a home run, the day's first run. The middle of the Dayton order was able to load the bases on a pair of walks and a fielding error and, with two outs, pinch hitter Taylor Erschen doubled the trio in.
 
Dayton plated two more in the fourth on a single, double, and a single, the latter coming after Bailey Enoch replaced Miller in the circle. The freshman allowed just one unearned run over 3.2 innings in relief the rest of the walk, striking out three. Miller was saddled with her fourth loss of the year, allowing six runs, three earned, with six strikeouts. Fordham's lone run came on a two-out error by the Flyers to score Michaela Carter from second. Madie Aughinbaugh and Rachel Hubertus each doubled in the contest and Carter singled and scored.
 
In the second game, George Washington's Sierra Lange and Aughinbaugh traded scoreless frames for most of the contest, with the Rams going ahead in the third and the Colonials scoring all of their runs in the sixth. The Rams' run came when Carter led off with a double to left center, was sacrificed over, and sacrificed in on Julia Martine's flyout. Jenna Cone doubled to begin the third in response but Aughinbaugh set down Lange, Ponce, and Williams in order. Fordham threatened in the fourth after Hubertus, with a single, and Bailey Enoch, with a double, led off the inning with a pair of hits, but Lange was able to escape unharmed. After a pair of uneventful innings, save for a diving catch by Anne Marie Prentiss in right, GW strung together a series of hits to take the lead, with Ponce's two-run home run providing the go-ahead run.
 
Carter went 2-for-3 with a run, finishing the day 3-for-6 to lead the offense. Hubertus had another hit in game two, totaling two on the day, and Aubree Barney and Sarah Taffet each had a single in game two. Enoch reached safely three times on the day, hit by a pitch in game one plus a double and a walk.

If the Fordham softball season is over, the Rams would finish with the program's single-season record for slugging percentage (.499), the second-highest on-base percentage (.387), a share of the third-highest average (.306), and would be just outside the top-10 in home runs, ERA, shutouts, fielding percentage.
 
At the individual level, Brianna Pinto's season average of .431 would become a new program record, besting K.C. Crowder's long-standing record of .415, while Rachel Hubertus' three RBIs this week push her up into a tie for fifth all-time with 54 alongside Elise Fortier ('14), and into a tie for 10^th with 13 home runs this season with five others. Pinto would also be eighth all-time with a .462 on-base percentage and finishes her senior year with 28 stolen bases, third-most.
 
Aughinbaugh would see her illustrious Fordham career end within the top-three of nearly every single pitching category in Fordham history. She will be third in appearances (134), starts (107), wins (67), complete games (66), shutouts (14), innings pitched (667.2), and strikeouts (482). She's also fifth with five career saves, eighth with a career 2.59 ERA, and eighth with 44 career steals. She's also just outside the top-10 in career average (.308), at-bat (624), runs (112), and hits (192).