Softball Readies For Play at Bahoshy Field with Two Doubleheaders this Week

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Bronx, N.Y. – After several delays due to inclement weather this past week, the Fordham softball team (6-9) will finally open play at Bahoshy Field against Atlantic 10 foe Saint Louis (4-11) on Monday with a doubleheader beginning at noon. The Rams will then host Stony Brook (9-5) for a doubleheader on Wednesday beginning at 2 p.m.
 
Monday's contests will be streamed live on WFUV via Spreaker, while Wednesday's games will be streamed live on ESPN+. Links, including live stats, can be found via the top-most link above.
 
Last Time Out
After just one contest during a nearly two-week stretch between February and March, the Rams went 3-1 at UT Arlington's Boerner Invitational. A little over a week ago, Fordham fell in the opening contest against Northwestern State but rebounded with two victories over UTSA and got revenge over the Lady Demons. The offense slashed .284/.363/.422 over four games led by freshman Allie Clark, who started three and played in all four, hitting .500 with a stolen base and a pair of runs, and fifth-year Brianna Pinto, who led the squad with six hits and three more stolen bases, plus a go-ahead three-run bomb against UTSA. In the circle, Bailey Enoch picked up a pair of wins while appearing in every contest and also produced a grand slam at the dish. Freshman Emilee Watkins also made her first collegiate start. You can read both days' recaps via the schedule link above.
 
Series Histories
Saint Louis – Fordham owns a 25-8 series advantage since the Billikens joined the Atlantic 10 for the 2006 season. The two schools have not met since the 2019 season but the Rams are currently on a seven-game win streak dating back to 2017. In 2019, senior Kylie Michael enjoyed the finest week of her career en route to her first A-10 weekly award, helping her team sweep Saint Louis by going 8-for-10 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.
 
Stony Brook – The all-time series with the Seawolves is tied 3-3 since 2003. The two schools split a doubleheader in 2003 and have traded wins since. Last year, Fordham won, 10-6, on Brianna Pinto's walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning, her first career home run at the time, which you read about here.
 
Milestone Watch
Fittingly, Brianna Pinto is racing up the Fordham softball record book, now up to solo second all-time with 69 career steals, four from tying Krystle Henry ('07) for the program record. Pinto stole 28 bases last year, third-most in a single campaign, and has been thrown out just ONCE in her career, way back in April of her freshman year. The Franklin Square, N.Y. native is also on pace to finish in the top-10 for career batting average after setting the single-season record last Spring with a .431 average across 46 contests and at .255 currently this year.
 
Redshirt senior Rachel Hubertus enjoyed a tremendous comeback season last year, hitting 13 home runs with 54 RBIs, ranked T-10^th and 5^th, respectively in a single year, and with two home runs this year is into the top-10 for career bombs, with 24 alongside Allison Storc ('08). She is also 29 RBIs away from the all-time top-10 and is currently seventh with a .562 slugging percentage.
 
Junior Devon Miller is up to joint-eighth all-time with seven career shutouts and is on the cusp of the top-10 lists for career wins (currently at 18, five behind) and strikeouts (currently 234, eight behind), too.  
 
Makenzie McGrath Named Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week
The senior earned her first weekly league accolade on February 15 after picking up both of the team's wins opening weekend, one in her fifth career complete game and one in relief. Read all about her stellar performances here.
 
2021 Season Review
The Rams saw a stretch of seven consecutive Atlantic 10 championships snapped last Spring. Fordham earned the #2 seed after finishing the conference season with a 17-3 record, posting a 37-10 overall record by year's end. Devon Miller became the eighth Ram to earn A-10 Rookie of the Year honors, also garnering First Team All-Conference accolades, with Sarah Taffet and Brianna Pinto being named to the Second Team and Bella Ayala and Bailey Enoch landing on the All-Rookie team. The quartet of Miller, Pinto, Madie Aughinbaugh, and Rachel Hubertus all were also selected to the NFCA All-Region Third Team, as well.
 
In the classroom, a program-record 13 Rams also earned Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete honors, with Aughinbaugh also garnering A-10 All-Academic and both Hubertus and Pinto earning CoSIDA Academic All-District.
 
Fordham saw Aughinbaugh, one of the program's top pitchers and two-way players, graduate among five total, but return every other starter from a year ago, with five freshman joining the program. Coach Inouye, who received a contract extension, also added former Holy Cross head coach Jennifer Lapicki as her associate head coach.
 
2022 Season Preview
Head coach Melissa Inouye, entering her fourth season at the helm of the program, and the team's four captains – fifth-years Kelly Bright, Rachel Hubertus, and Brianna Pinto, and senior Makenzie McGrath recapped the team's preseason preparations and spoke on their team goals for the year, plus more, in this video.
 
A-10 Preseason Poll
The Rams were predicted to finish second in the annual Atlantic 10 preseason coaches poll. Fordham garnered 71 points and three first-place votes, finishing just three points shy of last year's champions, George Washington, who received four first-place votes, and ahead of Saint Joseph's, who earned the final two first-place votes and 55 total points. Read about it here.
 
D1Softball.com's Top 150
Junior pitcher and reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Devon Miller was named by D1Softball.com as its 149^th-best player in the country heading into the season. You can read about it here, though it is a subscription-based website.
 
Up Next
Fordham heads to our nation's capital for a three-game series at George Washington on Saturday and Sunday. 1 p.m. start on Saturday, noon on Sunday.