Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham softball took on both the rain and Rhode Island on Saturday and came away winners, 9-0 in five innings, and 3-2 in walk-off fashion, to begin this weekend's three-game series. With the wins, the Rams improve to 11-13 overall and 3-4 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Rams fall to 5-18 and 1-6, respectively.
"Nice to see us have good quality at-bats, hitting the ball hard up and down the lineup." Head coach
Melissa Inouye said, "I thought defensively we ran down some tough fly balls and made some key plays to get out of some jams. Devon and Mak both gave us quality starts in some adverse weather conditions and Emilee came in strong to change the rhythm in game two. Happy for Bailey as she's been just missing and it was nice to see her be aggressive in a 3-0 count."
The Rams blitzed their foe in game one, scoring in all four innings before enacting the run rule, while
Devon Miller tossed a three-hit shutout, the eighth of her career. The go-ahead run came with one out in the opening frame on a
Julia Martine RBI to score
Allie Clark.
Rachel Hubertus made it a three-run game the next inning with a one-out double to score
Brianna Pinto and
Sarah Taffet, and Taffet and Clark produced two more runs in the third with a pair of two-out singles.
Amanda Carey started a two-out rally with an opposite-field double and Taffet, Pinto, and Clark all singled after. Miller helped pad the lead with a RBI single in the sixth with Carey driving in
Michaela Carter after and Clark capping the scoring with a RBI groundout.
Miller allowed six baserunners, three singles and three walks, while striking out five to pick up her third win of the year.
Game two was largely a pitchers' duel between
Makenzie McGrath and Liz Lynchard. The hosts got to Lynchard first with Martine's RBI single to score Clark in the third, and doubled their lead with a
Sydney Wells groundout. Rhode Island was able to put one run across with a Maddy Melice single in the sixth, but go to McGrath and, in relief,
Emilee Watkins in the seventh. A lead-off walk brought Watkins in and the runner scored after a steal, a sacrifice bunt, and a Rachel Zingerman single, though Watkins was able to escape a two-on jam. In the bottom half of the frame,
Bailey Enoch saw three balls in a row before launching the fourth pitch over the left centerfield wall to walk the game off.
Six Rams notched multiple hits on the day, led by Hubertus' four. Enoch and Taffet each finished 3-for-5, the latter one of three scoring twice, with Carey going 2-for-3 in her lone start, also scoring twice.
The two Rams finish the series on Sunday at noon on ESPN+.
