Arlington, Texas – Fordham softball kicked off play at the UT Arlington's Boerner Invitational on Friday by splitting its two games. The Rams fell to Northwestern State in the opening contest, 6-1, but defeated UTSA, 5-2, right after. With the day's results, Fordham moves to 4-9 on the early season.
The Lady Demons struck for six runs in four different innings as Sara Hoover subdued the Fordham offense until the seventh inning. In that frame, the Rams loaded the bases and
Rachel Hubertus drove in
Allie Clark, but that was the end of the offense for the game.
Brianna Pinto led the squad by reaching base safely three times, two via walk, and stealing a base, while
Michaela Carter reached twice and four others reached once, including Clark who came off the bench to single and eventually score the lone run.
In game two, the Mavericks struck first against
Makenzie McGrath with a walk, stolen base, and single, but the Rams struck back emphatically through the bat of
Bailey Enoch, the sophomore smacking a grand slam in the bottom half of the frame. To set it up, Carter walked and Pinto singled to begin the inning and
Julia Martine was hit by a pitch to load the bases. UTSA struck for its second run in the second, doubling in the run with two outs, but McGrath escaped the jam and kept the Mavs off the board the rest of her 5.2 frames, striking out a career-high six batters, before giving way to Enoch who saw things out with just one walk allowed over 1.1 innings.
In the third,
Rachel Hubertus stole her second career base as part of a double steal attempt with Pinto, a successful one that saw the fifth-year score on an error by the catcher. Pinto finished the day with three steals, moving her past Melissa Andrews ('09) for solo second all-time. She is now just four away from setting the program record, Krystle Henry's 73 finished in 2007. Pinto finished the game 3-for-4, too, with a pair of runs, to make it a 4-for-6 day at the dish with two walks.
Fordham plays both opponents again on Saturday at 12 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
